Darkened Wizards
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Petunia remembers her OTHER sister, Emiko Niwa, the twin sister of Lily. Emiko agrees to take in her nephew. Can Harry handle the power of his grandfather's legacy or will the boy-who-lived finally meet his match in a 400 year old spirit?
1. Chapter 1

Petunia was cross. In a few days her freak of a nephew would return, and this time he would be able to use that wretched magic. Suddenly she bumped a box above her and the contents fell out.

Letters. But more importantly letters in another language.

Petunia picked one up and a memory she had tried to forget came rushing back.

The yelling, accusations, the pregnancy and then the near divorce. All of it was because of Lily.

That was when the truth hit her. Lily had another half sister in Japan. One who was quite close to her and married with a son of her own.

This was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the freak. She felt like hitting herself for forgetting the one person she could foist the brat on.

"Moshi moshi."

"Hello, is Emiko Niwa present?" asked Petunia.

"This is her. Who may I ask is calling?"

"Petunia."

Silence meet her answer.

"What do you want Petunia? I thought we agreed never to talk again."

"I know. The only reason I am calling concerns your nephew."

"Any child of yours is _no_ relation of mine," said Emiko frostily.

"Not mine. Lily's."

"Where is she Petunia?"

"Dead. For ten years."

"Why are you calling?"

"How would you like to take in Lily's son? We can't take it anymore. He's too much like his mother."

"...Lily had a son? Where is he?"

"He'll be at King's Cross Station at eleven o'clock in two days."

"Fine. But I never want to hear from you again."

"The feeling is mutual, believe me."

* * *

Harry got off the train and prepared himself for another summer with his horrid aunt. He could only console himself with the fact that she hated magic, and the summer wasn't going to be nearly as bad as it used to be.

"Wish you could spend the summer with us mate. But Mum was firm about that," said Ron as he passed Harry.

"You and me both."

"Good luck Harry. We'll write every day!" said Hermione.

"Have fun this summer, 'Mione."

He braced himself before stepping out off the platform and into the muggle station. Once he got used to the noise, he looked around.

And blinked twice.

The Dursleys were conspicuously absent. And with an uncle and cousin _that_ large they would be hard to miss.

Instead there was a foreign woman looking around for someone. Harry had been raised with the worst people (if they could be classed that) and as a result, he tended to be extremely polite and friendly.

"Excuse me, Miss, but do you need help finding a platform?" asked Harry, dragging his trunk behind him.

"Actually I'm looking for someone. Can you help me find Harry Potter?"

Startled, he answered without thinking.

"I'm Harry Potter."

She beamed at him.

"I'm your aunt."

Confusion was apparent on his face as he said "But my aunt is Petunia Dursley."

"I'm your other aunt. Lily happened to be my twin sister."

Harry decided to keep his mouth shut and take a closer look at the woman. She did share some resemblance to his mother, but not much.

"Fraternal twins."

Now that made sense.

"Why isn't my other aunt here."

Now the woman looked a bit embarrassed.

"Petunia and I made an agreement never to speak of one another unless Lily was involved. She finally remembered me long enough to ask me to take you in."

"What?"

"_Petunia Dursley_ (she spat the name like it was the plague) never wanted anything to do with Lily once she realized that she had magic. Lily got that from our side of the family."

Now he was really confused.

"Your grandmother had an affair with my father, the result of which was Lily and myself. You could go back to Petunia if you want, or you can come with me back to Japan."

Harry couldn't believe his luck. Here was a chance to leave the Dursleys forever! But how could he trust this woman?

"Wait, did you say Japan? I don't have a passport!"

"Do you know where you could get one?"

Harry nodded.

"I'll follow your lead then."

* * *

Harry directed her to the Leaky Cauldron. Much to his shock she could see it perfectly fine. Once he reached Gringotts he asked for Griphook.

"What can I do for you Mr. Potter?"

"This lady claims to be my other aunt. Is there anyway to prove that?"

Griphook had them follow him into a smaller room. Once the woman found out what he needed, she willingly gave him three drops of blood. Five minutes later Harry was in shock.

**Emiko Niwa-Evans**

_Sister: Lily Niwa-Evans-Potter, Petunia Evans-Dursley_

_Father: Daichi Niwa_

"You're really my aunt?"

She beamed at him.

"Is there any way to shift custody to me and my husband?"

"Custody was never officially given to the Dursley family. However it seems money was given for taking care of an orphan."

"If by taking care you mean shoving into a hall closet for ten years and forcing a child to do manual labor, then yeah, they took care of me," said Harry under his breath. Emiko's eyes narrowed.

* * *

Another hour later Harry had a new passport and Emiko had custody. Never again would Harry see the Dursley family. And he couldn't be happier.

Harry was sound asleep on the plane to Japan. Emiko had alerted her father to the fact that Lily's son would now be living with them. Her son had no idea that his cousin was coming,

She gently woke up Harry when they landed, and together they managed to put the trunk in the small car she rented. Normally she didn't drive, since everything was within walking distance, but there was no way she was going to lug that trunk home.

Unknown to Harry, Emiko called ahead so her father could disable the traps. It wasn't long before Harry was trying to sit still from looking at everything. Above his owl flew ahead.

"Well, this is our house. What do you think?" asked Emiko.

"Wow. Definitely better than Privet Drive," said Harry with a grin.

"Let's get you to your new room."

Harry was grinning as he managed to lug the trunk up to his new room. It was decorated in soothing colors of blue, green, red and gold. It was like a miniature sunset. His bed was a simple bunk with a desk underneath. There was a window that opened to the ocean, and a small spot for his owl to roost.

"I love it Aunt Emiko!" said Harry sincerely.

"Good. Once you've settled in you can meet the rest of the family. Daisuke is currently at a friend's house, but he might be back by supper."

He absolutely loved his new family. His aunt was kind and pleasant, his grandfather was fun to be around, and the family pet was amusing, if a bit weird.

The door opened, and someone yelled "Okaa-san, Oji-san! Tadaima!"

"Daisuke, Okaeri!" said Emiko back.

"I forgot you don't know Japanese. Hold still a minute..." said Emiko. She took a wand and waved it over Harry and suddenly he could understand the red haired boy who entered.

"Mom, who's this?"

"Dai, this is your cousin Harry from England. He'll be living with us from now on."

"Since when do I have a cousin we speak to?"

Harry took a good look at Daisuke.

He was about his height with hair redder than Ron. His eyes were like rubies and he had the same problem with his hair that Harry did. It went all over the place.

"Harry is your aunt Lily's son."

"What happened to Aunt Lily?"

"My mom died protecting me from a mad man," said Harry finally.

Daisuke was silent, before he held out his hand.

"I'm your cousin Daisuke. Nice to meet you."

"Harry. It's a pleasure."

That settled the unspoken tension in the air, as Emiko went to make dinner. Since Harry was there, she decided to make something his mother used to love. Yakisoba noodles with miso soup.

Harry decided then and there to learn how to cook Japanese food. While they waited, Daichi and Daisuke asked him all sorts of questions about England, and Hogwarts.

Much to his surprise, his mother wasn't in fact a muggleborn witch. She was a half blood like him. Still, he enjoyed talking about the school and his friends. It served to lighten the mood as he asked questions about the town and Japan. It was only _after _dinner that Harry found out he would have to join Daisuke at school, if only until September first.

Which meant he would have to learn Japanese really quick. He couldn't depend on the translation charm all the time.

* * *

"Everyone, I would like you to meet our temporary classmate, Harry Niwa."

Everyone immediately looked to Daisuke for explanations. He shrugged.

"He's my cousin from England who goes to a private school. He's on his summer vacation right now."

"And it's still better than what my vacations _used _to be like," said Harry with a grin.

Once he was settled into the classroom, he patiently listened and did the work given. Lunch hit and so did the questions.

Thankfully he had been inoculated against sudden popularity thanks to Hogwarts. Between answering questions and simply being normal, Harry never once thought about Ron or Hermione.

He was having a blast (despite being sent to school and receiving _more_ homework over his vacation). His Hogwarts homework had been done in less than a week.

If someone had asked if him what he thought his family would be like, he never would have said that they would be thieves. Then again, no one ever said _he_ was normal either.

Still, at least he was learning something interesting over his break. All his homework combined with learning the family trade kept him so busy that he never once wondered why Ron and Hermione never owled him.

It was only when he was about to have his twelfth birthday that he wondered why they hadn't tried to contact him.

Harry had fun during the small party they gave him. Daisuke had given him a painted picture of Hedwig, his owl. Emiko had found a translation charm that allowed him to learn as he slept. Daichi had gotten him his own set of lock picks, since he had managed to learn how to use them properly.

But that was nothing to the party his classmates gave him at the Harada twin's house. It was massive. Risa had taken a shine to him, much to his discomfort. Riku thought his embarrassment was funny.

* * *

It was only after that he wondered why none of his English friends bothered to send him even a card.

That was when he saw the tiny bat eared...thing...on his bed. What worried him was that it was jumping _directly_ over that hole that Emiko had rigged to open without warning some mornings.

"Um, who are you and why are you jumping on a potentially dangerous hole?"

"My name is Dobby sir. Dobby the house elf. I don't know where to begin..."

"First, would you please get off that bed? You can sit down if you want..."

That was the wrong thing to say. Dobby it turned out, worked for _horrible_ masters who treated him as badly as the Dursleys treated Harry. Once Harry calmed him down (by which time Emiko and the others were outside the door listening in) Dobby attempted to tell Harry of a plot in Hogwarts.

All he could get out of the elf was that A) it didn't have anything to do with Voldemort, and B) Dobby couldn't talk about it directly or he would be punished severely.

Then he found out something that almost had him see red with rage. Dobby had been withholding his mail! It was his twisted attempt to prevent Harry from going back to Hogwarts.

Too bad the Niwa clan prided itself on getting into places they weren't supposed to.

* * *

Emiko had a tough decision to make. Well really it was going to be Daisuke's choice.

She could let Harry return to Hogwarts alone, and pick him up every year or he could take the local classes with Daisuke. Or, and she was leaning heavily on this, Daisuke could join his cousin at the castle.

It would be up to Daisuke whether he wanted to join Harry or not. Either way, the boys would be learning magic.

Daisuke looked at his mother, and wondered why she wanted him downstairs alone. Harry was in his room finishing that week's math assignments. Where he lacked in language skills he made up for in mathematics, which was universal in any language.

"Daisuke, how would you like to join Harry in Hogwarts?"

That certainly wasn't what he expected.

"But what about my classes and friends?"

"You would still attend class with your friends on the holidays. But it's up to you whether you go."

Daisuke thought hard about this. While he liked taking magic classes at the local temple, they simply didn't offer enough types. Hogwarts on the other hand, had more selection and a better potions class. And Daisuke loved cooking. But...he didn't know if he could leave his friends behind so easily.

"Can I have a day to think about this?"

"Sure Dai. Take as long as you want."

* * *

Daisuke left the house to think by himself. He ended up running into Risu at the fountain with the windmill on it.

"Hey Riku-chan."

"Hi Daisuke-kun. Why are you out so late?"

"I needed to think and so I left the house."

"About what?"

"Mom said I could join my cousin at that private school he goes to. The only problem is that it's in Scotland and I don't know English nearly that well."

"So you have a chance to go to a private school across the sea?"

"Yeah. Harry said there's a good chance they would accept me too."

"Why don't you go then?"

"I can't exactly leave my friends behind."

"Who says you're leaving them behind? This is a rare chance Daisuke-kun. Are you really going to let this pass you by?"

Daisuke smiled at her. She was right of course. This chance was too good to miss, and it wasn't like he wouldn't see them during the holidays.

"Thanks Riku-chan."

"Anytime, Daisuke-kun."

* * *

Daisuke had to be given a wand and all his school things. Of course Harry was all too happy to help pay for it. It wasn't like he had anything better to do with the money his father left him. And Daisuke already had a pet...even if Wiz was a bit unusual.

Emiko had the wand ready for him by the time they came back from buying potions ingredients and books. And they had gotten a reply from Dumbledore saying Daisuke could come, provided he kept up with the coarse work. (And to that end Harry helped Daisuke read his school books from last year.)

As far as the teachers were concerned, Daisuke was a foreign transfer student who happened to know Harry. And Harry wasn't going to tell Snape about his cousin.

Daisuke had a yew wand, fourteen inches with a strange feather that Emiko had on hand.

"So what do we do now? School starts September first," asked Daisuke.

"We could always wait in the Leaky Cauldron. They have rooms there," suggested Harry.

Emiko looked at them both and asked "Can I trust you two to behave until the train leaves?"

They nodded. Since she could trust them to handle themselves alone, she told them to wait and head to King's Cross by themselves. Of course Harry knew full well that Ron and the others would eventually make their way to Diagon, so it wasn't like they had to wait alone for long.

* * *

Harry grinned as he heard the familiar voices of Ron and Hermione. His amusement was dampened by the fact that once again, they were arguing.

Daisuke finished his letters to his friends and looked down.

"Who are they?"

"Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger. My best friends at Hogwarts."

"And why are they arguing?"

Harry listened from above. Apparently, Hermione was angry about the fact that Ron hadn't really sent him letters like he said he would aside from a single birthday card. The fact that Harry never actually_ got _the letters was still a moot point.

So he grinned wildly as he snuck downstairs. He spotted the twins and grinned even wider.

"Mind if I give them a scare?"

They had answering grins of their own, and waved him off.

Harry was smirking as he snuck up beside the feuding friends and yelled "Boo!" loudly in their ear.

Both yelped at the same time and nearly jumped a foot in the air. Daisuke and the twins were laughing hard as the two turned as one and glared at him.

"Harry! That was not funny mate!" said Ron.

"Yes it was. Admit it, if I had done that to Malfoy you would be laughing too!" grinned Harry.

Ron began to drop his glare as his mouth quirked in amusement. Hermione huffed and demanded to know _why_ Harry had never bothered to answer their letters.

"I never got them. Some house elf nicked all my mail. If it wasn't for the fact that my friend Daisuke was accepted into Hogwarts, I wouldn't know what books to get."

"New friend?" said Hermione.

"Who names their kid Daisuki?"

Daisuke blushed and Harry looked like he was trying _not_ to bust his gut from laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Ron.

"Daisuki means '_I really like you' _in Japanese. It's their way of saying I love you."

_That _had Ron blushing like mad.

Daisuke took his queue to come downstairs and meet them.

"Bloody hell. You found a Japanese Weasly?" asked Ron.

"Actually, they found me."

Thankfully Hermione was too busy bothering his cousin to ask why he never sent _them_ any letters over the summer. Or where he had been.

* * *

One week into the vacation, Ron had given into boredom and actually _called_ Harry through the muggle telephone. The only problem was, Harry never thought to include the new phone number in Japan.

So they decided to all get their supplies together. Well, Hermione and the Weaslys anyway. Harry and Daisuke already had theirs.


	2. Chapter 2

Daisuke was fairly impressed with Harry's friends. One was a bookish, brilliant girl who asked all the right questions, while the other was a brash idiot whose loyalty was questionable and had a serious inferiority complex.

Of course his female friend did coo over Wiz.

* * *

The bookstore was packed. And the reason was simple enough. Someone named Lockhart was in the store.

"Can we come back when he's gone?" asked Harry.

"Are you kidding? He wrote the entire Defense booklist!" said Hermione in a near shriek.

"'Mione, we _read_ those books. Most of it was codswallop."

"Time did not match," said Daisuke in accented English.

Ron gave him an odd look and Harry translated.

"Timelines didn't match. Some of the stuff he _claims_ to do happened when he was an infant, and some of the accounts overlap one another. Even with apparition it would be impossible for him to take out a banshee _and _a werewolf at the exact same time."

Hermione huffed in irritation, while she cast longing looks into the bookstore.

That was when Harry had an idea. He brought out a scroll he knew Hermione would love to read and gave it to her. She squealed in delight as she began to read it.

_Mission Accomplished._

Ron on the other hand, needed new robes. So they spent the day just getting supplies and left the books for last.

By the time they came back to the bookstore the crowd had mostly dispersed. So while Ron and the others got their schoolbooks, Harry and Daisuke got books that caught their attention.

Harry found a potions text that was very interesting called _Most Potente Potions_. He was vaguely sure it was also in the Restricted Section at Hogwarts. He had seen something similar while searching for Flamel.

* * *

Harry was awoken by Daisuke before morning had fully set in. He yawned, but still got up. A few months living with the Niwa clan had him up before dawn. Otherwise he risked Emiko's not so amusing wake up calls that often involved the hole in his bed that lead to the basement.

Once they stretched, they went downstairs and had a mild breakfast. Daisuke still wasn't used to the foreign food, but he was getting there. He mostly stuck to the fruit since the fried food hurt his stomach a bit.

After they ate, they got their things and hailed the Knight Bus to the station. It was six in the morning, and people were just now getting on the train.

Harry went first, and the barrier felt a little sluggish to him. But he got through just fine. Daisuke followed him without question, and the two put their trunks up on the shelf above.

Harry went back to sleep while Daisuke studied up on his English. He was improving day by day.

* * *

Soon the station was filled with the usual hustle and bustle of a new term. Children whined about not being able to go, parents hovered over their embarrassed school children, and older students simply bore it all with practiced ease.

In short it was chaos, and it woke Harry up.

He yawned, and looked outside for a familiar sea of red hair. (Daisuke had been startled to find out that his cousin's best friend also had red hair. Only it wasn't as vibrant as his own.)

Harry found the twins easily enough. They were being yelled at by their mother for bringing pranks on the train. Ron however, was conspicuously missing.

That had Harry sit up. Why wasn't Ron there?

The train began to move, and Harry became concerned. Something was up, and he suspected it had to do with why the pillar felt so sluggish to him.

Halfway to the school, Harry looked out the window. He blinked, wiped his eyes, then looked again.

His jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Dai, is it me or is Ron outside in a flying car?"

Daisuke looked outside and then at his cousin.

"Crazy English."

"I'm beginning to think that English wizards are nuttier than most," said Harry to Hermione.

When she raised an eye in question, he hooked a thumb to the outside. Her jaw dropped before she started muttering angrily. Once again Ron Weasly was in the doghouse with Hermione.

"Why is Ron in flying car?" asked Daisuke.

"Remember how I mentioned the pillar was a bit sluggish this morning? I think it decided to close up early for some reason. Ron must not have gotten through in time."

Daisuke seemed to enjoy chocolate frogs, though the idea of eating a frog seemed to bother him until Harry told him it was _entirely _chocolate and not alive.

* * *

They entered the carriages, and wondered why the was nothing to pull them. Daisuke had to go on the boats with the other first years so he could be sorted. Lucky for him, Harry had warned him ahead of time of what to expect.

Once the first years were sorted, Harry waited eagerly for his cousin to be announced. Dumbledore stood up.

"We have a special treat for everyone this year. This year we will be hosting an exchange student from Japan's magical academy. I want everyone to greet him and make him feel welcome."

"Niwa, Daisuke!"

_Hmm. How interesting! Your true magical potential hasn't woken up yet. Seems you have a few more years before it does. Let's see... intelligent as a Ravenclaw, loyal as a Puff, but no real ambition aside from painting. Ah, but what is this? You are as brave as a Lion! You certainly take after your aunt and cousin._

_So where do I go?_

_There is only one place where you would feel at home. Welcome to..._

"_GRYFFINDOR!"_

Harry cheered the loudest and let his cousin sit next to him. Once there he found himself bombarded by questions of the Japanese magical community. Daisuke couldn't believe how popular he was. Harry had warned him about the stigma associated with his scar. So Daisuke kept quite about being Harry's cousin. But he could say truthfully that he was a pure-blood from Japan.

(Harry had looked into Kosuke Niwa, and found out he was a squib from another pure-blood family. One that had died out except for him.)

Once they reached the common room, they found out what happened to Ron.

He hadn't made it into the platform. Something had blocked it, and he missed the train.

So in an attempt to get to school, Ron followed the typical lion creed, and acted without thinking. He stole his dad's car and tried to (and here Harry and Daisuke had to make sure they heard this right) _fly_ it to Hogwarts.

"So just to be clear, that _was_ you we saw on the train?" asked Harry.

"I waved at you, but you didn't do anything back."

"I thought you were doing something stupid to try and regain control of the car," admitted Harry.

Daisuke was relieved to find out he was sharing a dorm with Harry. He was afraid he was going to be with the first years.

* * *

Dobby was upset. Harry Potter had gone through the platform! If only he hadn't gotten on so early! Dobby would have had time to close the platform properly.

Unfortunately he had to make breakfast for his masters, and the head elf would have been very suspicious if he had been missing for too long.

Now Harry Potter was at Hogwarts and in danger from the plot his master had in store.

* * *

Harry yawned, and saw that his cousin was up already. So they took a long time stretching before they prepared to run. Since they didn't have Emiko's traps to keep them in perfect shape, they would have to make do using the moving staircases.

It wasn't much, but it was still better than dealing with Emiko's idea of a joke (crocodiles and wild dogs chasing them).

They grabbed their clothes and went out. The fat lady was sound asleep and didn't see them go.

Daisuke enjoyed the life threatening jumps between the stairs. Harry was right behind him, and whooped with joy as he felt the air between him and the ground.

That was when one of the teachers spotted them and nearly had a heart attack from the sight of them jumping to a lower level from above.

"_WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"_ he shrieked.

Harry almost slipped from his perch as he realized _who_ was shrieking at them.

He held back a curse.

It was Snape. The last person in the world he wanted to see at the moment.

Snape grabbed both of them and was quite prepared to give them detention.

"You do realize that even if you gave us detention we would only do it again, right?" said Harry.

"What does _that_ mean Potter?" he spat out.

"This is exercise," said Daisuke. He was trying to use English without using the charm.

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?"

"My other Aunt has a penchant for making us go through traps every morning. This was just an easier version of those."

Daisuke nodded in agreement.

"No wild dogs chasing."

"Wild dogs?"

"Her idea of a joke. She sets wild dogs and crocodiles out to hurry us up."

"Who is your aunt, and why does the transfer know her?"

"Harry is cousin."

Snape's eyes went wide in shock.

"Apparently my grandmother had an affair while in Japan, and had my mother and her sister. They split them up, and no one thought to tell me I had another aunt."

"Let me get this straight. You have another aunt and that senile old goat placed you with that magic hating woman anyway?"

"Mother doesn't like Petunia. Only Lily," said Daisuke.

"You should study up on your English more. I take it that you two being cousins isn't well known right now?"

"Less chance of people bothering him if we're just friends."

"Indeed. If you improve your potions grade I will keep this to myself. But..."

Harry had a bad feeling about this.

"But what?"

"Next time you have to do this exercise wait until McGonagall is around. I want to see that old Battle Axe panic over the thought of her Seeker crashing."

"That's cruel," said Daisuke.

Snape gave him a look.

"Cruel, but ever since you made seeker she's been insufferable."

"Fine. No detention then?"

"If you give her a scare, then no."

"Deal."

* * *

By the time Ron and Hermione got to breakfast, they had searched everywhere for their friend. Neither of them had seen Harry in the common room that morning. Once they realized _no one_ in Gryffindor had seen him, they went to breakfast...only to find him next to Daisuke chatting about what classes they were going to for the morning.

Hermione's shriek was loud enough to cause several owls to go into flight.

"Where have you been?"

"Ohayo 'Mione-chan," said Harry with a grin.

"Ohayo, Granger-san," said Daisuke with a bow of his head.

"Harry, we were looking all over for you!" said Ron.

"How hard did you look? I've been here for the past forty five minutes."

"That's impossible! You usually wake up around the same time I do!" said Ron.

"I woke up at six, and you were still snoring away. So Daisuke and I decided to take a run around the moving stairs. Nearly gave Snape a heart attack."

"How could running possibly give...never mind, I don't want to know..." muttered Hermione.

"Exercise good. Too bad no real games to play here," said Daisuke.

"Yeah, Quidditch is fun, but not much exercise," said Harry.

"I must say Daisuke, your English is improving quite rapidly," said Hermione.

"Harry help much."

"Why are you two so close Harry?" asked Ron, suspicious.

"Oh look, McGonagall has the schedules," said Harry, spotting the teacher.

"Charms, Herbology, DADA today," said Hermione.

"Charms I can live with, Herbology isn't that bad, but Lockhart will be pressing my nerves," said Harry.

Daisuke nodded in agreement.

"I look forward to potions," said Daisuke.

Two pairs of eyes stared at him in disbelief.

"Prepare to get your hopes dashed mate. Snape hates all lions. Especially Harry."

"Snape not bad man. Just does not like children," said Daisuke sensibly.

"That...might be an accurate description. He's also not a morning person."

* * *

Aside from the rather interesting Herbology lesson where Neville fainted, it was a rather typical morning for Harry.

That is, until he stepped foot into the DADA classroom and gaped. The teacher was definitely a narcissist. The man had portraits of himself _everywhere_ in the room.

His cousin, thankfully, was unimpressed with the room as he sat down. Neither of them had even bothered to waste money on Lockhart's books. As Harry eyed the covered cage with mistrust, he leaned over to Daisuke and said "Shall we practice our warding spells?"

Daisuke grinned. As one, the boys made a complete circle around them with their wands and said the spell. The only thing that could get in or out was air.

Harry got out a book and started reading while Daisuke read the one he had picked up. Much to their surprise, Harry _had_ found a book in the Restricted section.

Because of their wards, they were the only one the Cornish Pixies avoided. Which had Hermione glaring at the both for an hour. Ron was too busy trying to get ink out of his hair.

So once the classes were over with, they cornered both Harry and Daisuke with help from the twins. Fred and George were very curious about the only bloke in the school with hair as red as theirs, only brighter.

"Harry Potter, you had better explain a few things to us!" started Hermione.

"Yeah mate, why are you so close to Daisuke all of a sudden?" asked Ron.

"Where did you learn that warding spell?"

"Why are you trying to avoid us?"

"Because both of you are far too nosy for your own good! Did it _not_ occur to you that there's a reason why I haven't explained how I know Daisuke...or the fact that I can now speak Japanese perfectly?" Harry glared.

"Harry, what's going on?"

"I'm trying to protect Daisuke is what!" blurted Harry.

His friends narrowed their eyes. Why was this Daisuke kid more important to him than they were?

Harry looked at Daisuke and hissed something to him in Japanese. Daisuke nodded.

Before Hermione and Ron could react, Harry and Daisuke bolted towards the wall. Both of them cast a spell under their breath that not even the twins could catch, and without warning they began to climb up the walls.

Hermione and Ron gaped in shock. Harry and Daisuke were climbing up the walls like the American muggle superhero Spiderman!

Before either of the four could really react, the two were gone. Hermione went out to the stairs in an attempt to catch them again, only to gasp in shock.

Harry and Daisuke were _jumping_ off the edge of the stairs onto the lower floors! And they were landing perfectly on the platforms!

* * *

"That was close," said Harry.

"Why not tell friends?" asked Daisuke.

"Because Ron doesn't think before he speaks. If he knew, then the whole school would know. And frankly, I don't want that kind of trouble with you around."

"Can we speak Japanese?" asked Daisuke finally.

"_Definitely. We need to work on your English more, cousin."_

"_It's a good thing Mom gave you that charm. At least you can do a better translation than I can," _replied Daisuke.

During Charms, Harry ended up being a translator for Daisuke because he wasn't getting his question across properly. They found it was actually an interesting way to bond. Plus, by acting as a translator, Harry learned Japanese much faster.

Upon learning that the charm had a reverse function, Harry had come up with an agreement with Daisuke. If he couldn't get the hang of English before Harry learned enough Japanese to speak without the charm, he would lend it to his cousin.

"_Why did your friends corner us?"_

"_They insist on knowing everything about me. They have an annoying tendency to stalk me between classes. And they think I don't notice that."_

"_They aren't friends then. Hermione seemed decent, but Ron..."_

"_Is an annoying idiot who doesn't think!"_

"_What about those twins?"_

"_Gred and Forge? They're alright. They love to play pranks."_

Daisuke gained an evil smirk.

"_Think your friends would take a hint if we pranked them enough to back off?"_

"_We can't get into the girls dorms, remember?"_

"_Which side of the tower does their window face?" _countered Daisuke.

"_Towards the castle I think."_

"_West then."_

"_Daisuke, you aren't seriously thinking...?"_

"_We prank them in a week when I test something."_

* * *

A shadowy figure raced along the roof. No one could see it properly under the new moon. It paused when it reached one of the towers.

Tying something securely, it began to repel down to the closest window.

Seventh year girls slept within a red and gold room. It began to descend again. For every window the shadow visited, the girls were younger. Apparently the height of the room depended on the year. Finally it reached the second from the bottom. It had found it's target.

It went back up and got to work on the seventh year window.

Carefully it took out a set of picks, and went to work.

In less than a minute the window was open, but not so much as to let anyone know that. The curtain had been drawn, which made it much easier to hide the figure.

It let sail something from his waist, and then began it's ascent.

* * *

"_Daisuke, where were you last night?"_

"_Checking the security of the girl's dorms. They don't charm their windows at all."_

"_Basically means it would be child's play for us to prank them, right?"_

"_I wonder if those seventh years found my joke amusing?"_

Heads turned when everyone heard Harry Potter yelp "NANI?"

Daisuke had an evil grin on his face. One which had the twins immediately zone in on the two of them for details.

Just another day at Hogwarts.


	3. Chapter 3

Daisuke tossed and turned. There was a feeling that kept bothering him, and he just couldn't sleep. He jolted out of bed.

What was this feeling?

Daisuke silently thought about what he had to do today, and realized there was a reasonable explanation. Today his cousin was going to show him how to fly a broom. He had convinced Oliver Wood to lend him a broom so they could fly after practice.

He realized what the feeling was.

He was eager to fly! The sky would always call to him, and it showed in his paintings.

Harry was grinning as he helped Daisuke on the broom. It wasn't long before Daisuke was flying around just as well as his cousin. It seemed they were meant for the air.

Apparently Wood had been watching, because he offered to show Daisuke how to be a Keeper. It was soon clear that Daisuke was a natural at the game. He was grinning from ear to ear.

* * *

"I'm bored," announced Harry.

Daisuke looked up from his book.

"_And what exactly am I supposed to do about it?"_ he asked back.

Harry put his head in his hands and looked at Daisuke from across the table.

"I was hoping you had an idea we could try."

"_Pranks?"_

"Nah...Snape threatened me with two months detention if we did any more for at least three months."

Daisuke closed his book and thought for a moment.

"_We could always play the Kagome song. But we would need more players."_

Harry cocked his head.

"_Kagome song?"_

"_It's an old game that children play. Kids would circle around one person who is blindfolded and when the song ends, the one in the middle has to guess who is behind them. If they are right, they switch out."_

Harry grinned.

"_That sounds like fun! How many would we need?"_

"_Maybe about five or six people."_

Harry went off to recruit some more players.

* * *

Half an hour later, Daisuke was teaching everyone how to play the game. Harry had managed to get Neville, Hermione, a first year Ravenclaw named Luna, and surprisingly, Draco Malfoy.

Daisuke was showing them how the song went, while Harry translated the instructions. It was a fairly simply enough game. The only bump seemed to be the song.

Daisuke patiently repeated the song, and when he was fairly sure they had it down, they tried it.

"_Kagome, Kagome..._

_The bird in the cage..._

_When will you come out?_

_In the evening of the dawn..._

_The crane and the turtle slipped..._

_Who is behind you now?"_

It was simple enough that even Draco Malfoy got the hang of it by the second try. It turned out to be rather fun.

Once dinner began, they had manage to get more players. Out of all of those, only four people successfully managed to name the person behind them accurately.

Harry, Daisuke, Luna and Neville. Draco managed to get it right most of the time, whereas Hermione only managed to get it right once, and that was by simple deduction.

Things happened peacefully for a change. Aside from the times that the first and second years sang the 'Kagome' song and tried to guess who was behind them.

* * *

During the first game of the year, Daisuke watched with rapt attention. Oliver had suggested the Japanese boy pay attention to how the game was played.

But something was wrong. One of the small baseball sized balls kept homing in on Harry. The twins had to leave the others unprotected while the bludger attacked Harry.

Finally Oliver called a time out.

When they went back into the air again, Harry was all alone. Daisuke was definitely worried.

Suddenly the ball aimed right for Harry. He couldn't react fast enough. So he did the only thing he could.

He lunged forward, and grabbed the small gold ball that had been hovering by Draco's ear. It was then that the ball hit him full force. Harry couldn't hold onto the broom handle. He began to fall.

"_Itoko!"_ cried Daisuke in shock.

Something red began to glow on Harry. It was centered around his back.

That was when the rain of feathers appeared. Everyone was silent as they sound of large wings reverberated throughout the stadium.

Harry skidded on the loose earth of the pitch. He held up the Snitch proudly, and everyone went nuts. But the bludger wasn't finished with him yet. It began to strike the ground near Harry. It came perilously close to his head!

Daisuke drew something from his pocket, and threw it at the ball. Harry was the only one who saw what it was.

A black feather.

* * *

"What was with that rain of feathers?" asked Ron at the party. The Gryffindor students had once again thrown a wild bash to celebrate their victory.

Daisuke was the only one who knew where the feathers came from.

Emiko Niwa read the letter her son and nephew sent, and her heart soared. Harry was definitely going to inherit the Niwa magic with Daisuke! She handed the letters to her father, who looked just as happy as she did.

They had worried that Harry wouldn't inherit the Niwa clan tradition, but now their worries were over. Harry would get Dark along with his cousin.

Which meant they would have to move their training schedule up a bit, since Harry had some things he needed to catch up on.

* * *

"_Dear Harry and Daisuke,_

_We are so proud of you two! Harry, congratulations on awakening part of the Niwa clan magic. Those wings that grew out of your back are normal sweetie. We've had those for four hundreds years now. There's nothing to be afraid of._

_On a happier note, when you two get home we'll start teaching you the sealing magic that we specialize in._

_Love Emiko and Daichi."_

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. So he wasn't cursed like he thought. He had been a little freaked out when he realized that he had grown large wings out of his back.

Since they were normal for his family, that meant he should be able to bring them out whenever he wanted.

Which gave him an idea.

Daisuke and Harry were once again jumping from platform to platform. The last time they did it, McGonagall nearly had a heart attack!

They had gotten a week's detention for that. Unfortunately for the poor Transfiguration mistress, the boys made it very clear that they would continue to do it.

Finally, when she couldn't take it any more, McGonagall did the smart thing and asked them _why_ they insisted on jumping from level to level.

"We don't want to get out of practice when we get home."

"What?"

"Aunt Emiko sets traps for us every morning, and she gets annoyed if we mess up," explained Harry.

"I thought your Aunt was Petunia Dursley?"

"Um...yes and no. My mother has another sister who lives in Japan. Petunia decided she had enough and asked her to take me in," said Harry sheepishly.

"Hari is itoko," said Daisuke.

McGonagall raised her eyebrow in question.

"Itoko means cousin," explained Harry.

"So Mr. Niwa is in fact your cousin. And when were you planning on telling me this?"

"Um, now? It's bad enough people stare and harass me because I'm the boy-who-lived, I didn't want my cousin to be pulled into the madness," said Harry.

"You do realize I will have to tell the headmaster about this," said McGonagall.

"Please don't. If he knew I had another aunt, then he might still send me back to the Dursleys. The last thing I want is for Dumbledore to bother Daisuke because he's my cousin."

"Very well. Just please, try not to kill yourself while jumping, will you?"

"When do the teachers go to sleep around here?" asked Harry.

McGonagall thought long and hard about what she did next. If she revealed the truth to the boys, it would cut down on the point reduction for their jumping...but it would also give the twins more ways to prank the school.

"The teachers...are usually on break between five and six. We switch shifts until breakfast begins. Snape patrols the stairways on Wednesdays, while I patrol on Fridays."

Harry nodded. He turned to Daisuke and spoke to him in Japanese. When the boy nodded, Harry looked at her.

"We'll get up earlier then. And we'll try to cut down on the number of levels we jump when you're on patrol," said Harry.

McGonagall knew a losing situation when she saw one, and accepted defeat gracefully.

* * *

Dumbledore had the weekly staff meeting, and as usual, half listened to the teachers. It was usually the same complaints over again.

Severus was being too harsh on anyone not a Slytherin. The Twins had pranked again. The plants in the greenhouses were growing mold and needed more students to tend to them. The centaurs were restless. Madam Pince had discovered something unsavory in the books. Someone had broken into the Restricted section and almost made off with a book. The students were fornicating in the towers after lights out.

The usual fare.

He honestly had no idea why he forgot to cast a silencing charm on his ears before these things.

Then Filch reported something he hadn't heard a thousand times before.

"Potter and that foreigner have been getting up very early every morning and jogging on the grounds."

"How early?" asked Dumbledore. This was new.

"Around five thirty or so. And they have been doing this for the past month at least," said Filch.

He was somewhat annoyed that he couldn't reduce points or hand out detention simply for waking up early. As McGonagall pointed out, they weren't actually _breaking_ rules. There was nothing in the books about waking up before breakfast to exercise.

Of course it made him curious as to what prompted the sudden change in his pawn's behavior, but he chalked it up to the foreign child encouraging him to do it.

He still wondered why Daisuke Niwa looked so damn familiar to him though.

* * *

Harry jumped off the fourth floor balcony and waited patiently for his new trick to unfurl itself. It was roughly a three hundred foot drop. Not enough to kill him...but enough to end up in the hospital wing if he landed wrong.

He felt for the tug in his magical core, and before he was a hundred feet down, he felt a snap.

He opened his eyes. Below him was the ground...but he wasn't getting any closer to it. He looked behind him. On his back were a pair of large blood red wings, flapping silently as an owl. He whooped, and flew up to the balcony he jumped off.

Daisuke looked at the wings in disbelief.

"_Mom said that was NORMAL?"_

"_Daisuke, nothing about me is normal. At least now I won't have to worry about falling to my death during Quidditch."_

"_True. So now what?"_

"_Should we see if you have wings too?"_

Daisuke looked at his watch and yelped.

"_Didn't Hermione-chan say if we were late for her study session again she would hex us to Sunday?"_

Harry looked at his watch and paled. He landed quickly and concentrated on his wings vanishing. By the time they made it to the library, there wasn't a feather left.

* * *

Daisuke concentrated on his magical core. Fortunately, the lesson he took at the temple near his hometown included meditation techniques. Something he had been showing his cousin to calm the boy down.

Harry had taken to those lessons like a duck to water.

Once he was in synch with his core, he felt around for anything odd. He was about to give up with he found a strange feather, hidden deep inside him.

After receiving the letter from his mother, he was quite eager to learn how to bring out his wings. According to his grandfather, he would be learning how to do it much earlier than normal. It would be fine if he couldn't do it just yet.

Daisuke hoped to gain his wings and use them often enough that bringing them out became second nature.

Harry was walking by the unused classroom when he heard a whoosh. He popped his head in and gaped. Daisuke had found his wings!

"_Want to go flying cousin?"_

Daisuke grinned. He loved flying as much as Harry, and to be able to fly without a broom sounded wonderful.

* * *

Halloween.

Instead of heading to the feast like he would normally, Harry had been invited to Nick's death day party. Hermione had been eager to hear of it, and was more than happy to join him. Daisuke went as well, if only to see if any Japanese ghosts.

Fortunately, Harry had thought ahead and asked Nick to have food for the living and the dead.

So here they were, heading to a small dungeon that would be filled with ghosts.

Daisuke got along better with ghosts than most second years. His culture was filled with tales of ghosts coming back to warn the living.

Much to Harry's surprise, it turned out that the Hogwarts ghosts knew Japanese.

Apparently, once you're dead you have a _lot_ of time on your hands. So most went out to learn a new language or something new to occupy their time.

Now that Daisuke knew that, he wouldn't feel so alone.

Harry never saw Hermione talking to Nick, asking him something that would change his hopes of keeping Daisuke relatively safe from the madness that always followed him.

"Hello Nick," said Hermione.

"Hello Hermione! How do you like my party?" replied Nick cheerfully.

"It's fascinating. Nick, I was wondering if you spoke Japanese?"

"Indeed! I spent a good fifty years haunting Japan before I decided that Hogwarts was my home."

"I was hoping you could translate a word for me."

Nick looked interested, and Hermione repeated the word that Daisuke had yelled during the Quidditch match when red feathers filled the air.

"Why 'itoko' means cousin."

"Thank you Nick!" beamed Hermione.

Hermione stalked over to Harry, and the look on her face made him gulp.

"I know what you've been hiding. Why didn't you tell us?" she hissed.

"What are you talking about?" asked Harry nervously.

"Daisuke is _your_ cousin!"

"How...?"

"He yelled out itoko when you were about to fall from your broom during the match," Hermione informed him primly.

"I only found out during the summer. My other aunt picked me up from the station. I'll be living with her from now on. Please don't tell anyone, especially Ron."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Ron would never have been able to keep this a secret, and I wanted to spare my cousin from the stigma that follows me around."

Hermione conceded to his point. Daisuke was already an outcast for being a foreigner and starting in his second year. If it became well known that he was directly related to Harry through his mother, then it would only be worse.

As it was, Daisuke had the respect of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff simply by trying hard. Slytherin tolerated his presence because he was a Japanese Pure Blood who respected their position on bloodlines. Gryffindor accepted him simply because he was Wood's replacement.

Still, Daisuke fit into their little group better than she would have suspected.

"So which side of the family is he from?"

"Mother's. Apparently my Grandmother on my mother's side had an affair while in Japan and had twin girls. The man in question happened to be from a long line of mages."

"Wait, you mean you're really a pure blood like Ron?"

"Really 'Mione, do you think I care about that? I finally have a family I can be proud to claim to be related to, and all you care is about my stupid blood status? We really don't need to give Malfoy any more ammo," said Harry with a look.

Hermione winced at the thought. Malfoy was a nightmare enough with _his _blood status. If he knew Harry was a pure blood and not a half blood, he would be incorrigible.

Right as Nick was about to give his speech, several spectral horsemen arrived through the wall. Harry suspected that they had deliberately shown up at to ruins Nick's moment.

The leader of this group decided to bully Nick for not being able to join their club when Harry had enough. He hated bullies.

"Excuse me, but what exactly does Nick need to qualify?" he asked politely, but firmly.

"He needs to be able to remove his head completely," said the ghost.

"I thought all he needed was to die by decapitation. It's not his fault that the guy couldn't do it right. The fact that it too 45 strikes to properly kill him only means that he was a man worth noting," said Harry calmly.

The ghost was taken aback by the thought. Harry noted the grateful look that Nick shot him.

Apparently Harry's words had a bigger impact than he thought. Several of the other headless ghosts were shooting speculative looks at Nick, as they hadn't thought of that before. The ghost looked nervous, and rightly so.

He had two choices. Either come up with a legitimate reason why Nick couldn't join, or allow him in as an auxiliary member.

As it was, the ghost would still lose face because of Harry's intervention.

"I suppose he could join...as a back up member you understand!" said the ghost finally.

The headless ghosts left promptly after. Nick beamed at the boy, joy clear in his face.

"Thank you Harry! I doubt Patrick would have changed his mind if you hadn't said anything!"

Harry gave the ghost a grin.

"Consider that your Death Day present Nick," replied Harry.

Nick laughed, and the students left, relieved to be out of that cold dungeon. Hermione and Daisuke beamed at him for his small kindness to the Gryffindor ghost.

That was when their good mood was ruined.

There hanging on the wall was the form of the cat hated by everyone, Mrs. Norris.

Daisuke gasped in shock. He liked animals. Instead of leaving the cat hanging, Daisuke went to take it down. It was then that the students left the feast.

"_Daisuke, we have to leave."_

"_I'm not leaving that cat up there!"_ retorted Daisuke.

By the time they managed to return to the common room, the rumor mill was going full force.


	4. Chapter 4

Daisuke kept getting suspicious looks for the next three weeks. It was frustrating, to say the least.

Finally he had enough.

"_Cousin, either you tell people the truth or I will,"_ said Daisuke.

Harry had explained months ago why he didn't want to announce that Daisuke was his cousin. It seemed the cold stares had changed his mind.

"Fine," sighed Harry.

* * *

The next morning Harry enlisted the help of Padma and Parvati Patil, both of which were renowned gossips. (Harry would sometimes go up and ask the Gryffindor twin what the latest gossip was. Usually when he was bored.)

In less than a day, the entire school had heard the rumor that the Japanese transfer was directly related to Harry Potter. For the next three days Harry confirmed the rumor, and the number of glares sent towards Daisuke and Harry dropped drastically.

Of course it did increase the smugness that Draco Malfoy let off. Learning that the boy-who-lived was actually a pure blood only increased his rather annoying traits.

So in retaliation Daisuke decided to burst his bubble. He had noted an odd name in the trophy room, and when he reworked the letters, discovered Voldemort's real name.

Tom Marvolo Riddle. When Daisuke reworked the letters, it spelled out 'I am Lord Voldemort.'

One owl to the goblins later, and Daisuke discovered something else that had been well hidden from everyone.

Voldemort was a hypocrite of the worst kind. He was a half-blood, the same kind of wizard he claimed were worthless.

* * *

Christmas. There had been another attack. Hermione felt positive that Malfoy was behind it, despite the things Daisuke discovered (and Harry did less translating than usual to explain).

Still, Harry was looking forward to Christmas for a change. This year he was heading back to Japan with his cousin to spend Christmas with his family.

(He had talked to the house elves to hold his presents until after he came back. The twins had given him a place where he could open them with Daisuke in peace.)

"So Daisuke, what will you be doing for Christmas?" asked Hermione.

"We visit temple. Pray for good year and then go to local festival," said Daisuke.

"I didn't think you celebrated Christmas," said Ron.

"We don't. It's considered a holiday for lovers in Japan. But there are enough Christians in Japan that it's still a holiday. They hold a festival at the temple to celebrate the Winter Solstice."

"Well what do you plan to do for New Year's?" asked Ron.

"Ron, New Year's in Japan isn't until _February_," said Harry in exasperation.

"Blimey! How did you know that Harry?" asked Ron.

Harry held up a book. It was a list of Asian cultures and holidays.

"Since I found out my other aunt was Japanese, I bought a book on their culture. Saved me a lot of headaches," shrugged Harry.

Upon seeing Hermione's look, Harry handed it over. She was soon lost to the world.

"I'll get you some books for Christmas 'Mione," said Harry.

* * *

Daisuke and Harry were on the train, discussing what they would do once they reached home. Emiko had promised to pick them up from the air port so they wouldn't suffer wizard travel. It was too cold to fly, even with their cloaks.

Of course Emiko promised to let them fly over the ocean with warming charms.

It didn't take long for them to fall asleep. When the train stopped, they woke up with a start. They promptly grabbed their trunks and headed out.

Neither of them noticed the red haired woman who followed them until they heard a commotion at the security station.

"Ma'am, you need a ticket to pass."

Harry slowly turned and saw something that would change how he felt about Dumbledore forever. He had long suspected that the old man had an unhealthy interest in his life.

And now he knew it to be true.

For standing there, about to be arrested was Molly Weasly. Ron's mother. The only one who could have convinced her to go into a muggle airport was Dumbledore. And nothing short of the headmaster would have convinced her to actually follow him.

They quickly went through the airport and onto the plane. Daisuke looked at his cousin in concern.

"What is wrong cousin?" asked Daisuke.

Over the past few months, Daisuke had improved his English a great deal. Now most people could understand him when he asked something. The only time he spoke his native tongue was when he was alone with Harry or with the ghosts.

Harry on the other hand, rarely used the charm anymore. He had gotten to an intermediate level of speaking Japanese. The only way he could really improve his ability was to speak with his family.

"_That woman at the air port. I know her."_

"_Who was she? She looked familiar."_

"_Molly Weasly. The twin's mother."_

"_...Why was she there? I thought you said pure bloods rarely go into someplace mundane?"_

"_I'm fairly certain she was there on orders to follow me. And there is only ONE person who she would listen to without question."_

Daisuke looked outside and said absentmindedly _"An old man with horrible taste in color combinations?"_

Harry looked up from his book.

"_How the hell did you know that?"_

Daisuke pointed outside.

Harry looked through the window which his cousin had left open. There, on a very fast broom was Albus bloody Dumbledore. How he managed to stay up in the air without dying of oxygen deprivation mystified him. And wasn't the air much colder at this altitude? Harry stared in complete shock.

From what he could tell, his headmaster was flying right beside him without a hint of discomfort. Which made absolutely _no_ sense whatsoever.

Harry had a sinking suspicion what was going on.

"_I'm heading to the loo. Be right back."_

Daisuke nodded, and continued staring at the bizarre sight outside.

Once Harry closed the door to the tiny bathroom, he took out something he wanted to show his aunt. It was a blood red feather that he picked up after his the Quidditch game where he nearly fell to his death.

He sat down and concentrated. The feather was his like wand, (which was securely locked in his trunk and out of reach) an extension of himself. He could do this.

A spell formed in his mind. He had no idea what it did, but he trusted whatever source provided it.

"_Finite Incantatem Maxima!"_ he whispered.

The feather flared once before it vanished. Harry didn't feel anything different, so he left the loo. Daisuke gave him an odd look.

"Old man gone."

Harry looked. Dumbledore wasn't there anymore.

"_How did he vanish?"_

"_There was this weird blood red light that hit him like lightning, and when it cleared he wasn't there anymore."_

"_I wonder what that was about?"_

"_What did you do?"_

"_Remember all those feathers I picked up from when my wings first came out?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_I used one to cast a spell. It works just like my wand, only the feather vanished when I cast the spell,"_ said Harry.

"_So we have an untraceable means of casting spells over the holidays?"_

"_Well I do. You're Japanese, so you wouldn't be picked up by Ministry sensors anyway. Plus your government is more lenient to underage magic use."_

"_True. I've been using magic for five years now, and they haven't bothered me about practicing at home once."_

* * *

Sixteen painful hours later, they were in Japan. Emiko promptly picked the boys up and by the time they were home made sure they managed to make it to their beds. Jet lag was a nightmare for cross-continental flights.

The next morning both boys were awakened by the not so subtle hint of their beds caving in. Emiko's joke was in full force. Fortunately for them, they hadn't lost their edge while in the boarding school. Both of them jumped out of their beds fast enough that they were almost tangled up by their covers. Two minutes later and both were dressed and ready for the day.

She beamed at them.

"I'm so proud of you two! Five months at that school and both of you are still as fast as ever!"

"We've been jumping off the balconies so we could keep our edge. And running outside the Forbidden Forest does wonders for our speed," said Harry, wiping his eyes.

She frowned at them.

"We had our ropes tied securely to the banisters," said Daisuke quickly.

(Harry still wasn't used to someone actually _caring_ whether he lived or got hurt.)

They went downstairs and had breakfast. Once that was over they told them all about their time at Hogwarts. Daisuke briefly touched on his difficulties with the language, while Harry demonstrated his improvement.

After that they went outside. Daichi and Emiko wanted to see if they had in fact managed to bring out their wings. Harry went first.

He went deep inside his core and found the thread that he needed. It had become almost second nature to bring them out. At first it had been somewhat painful, but that pain was nothing to what Vernon Dursley used to inflict.

Blood red wings, roughly fifteen feet wide appeared in a flurry of feathers.

Daisuke was next. He went inside his core, and found the tendril he wanted. It was easier than before, when he had to concentrate for at least fifteen minutes to bring them out.

His wings were nearly fourteen feet wide, but appeared to still be growing.

They beamed at them both. They were the youngest in the family to develop their wings to the extent that they could bring them out on command. Normally the boys in the family had to wait until they reached the age of fourteen to bring them out. The year they came of age.

Since they could bring them out, it meant that both were ready to begin their training into the family magic.

Much to his surprise, the Niwa clan specialized in _sealing_ magic. They had mostly practiced their craft by sealing away the power contained in art made by their rival clan, the Hikari. By that didn't mean they limited themselves.

Over the years, the family had gathered the most extensive collection of sealing magic in Europe and Asia. Harry practically dove into the library. Daisuke was right next to him. Since they had managed to bring out their wings, Daichi deemed them ready to learn from the library.

Since there was no way they could read all the volumes in the scant two weeks they had, Harry found books that he would definitely read while at school.

They were encouraged to read the books. So Daichi told them to owl them with the book they finished and they would send the next one back.

Between the two cousins, it was likely they would devour the library long before they came of age.

* * *

Harry had to get help putting on the yakuta properly. This was his first visit to the temple, and he was excited. Not only would he be learning more about the culture, but he would get to go to a festival!

Harry went up the steps two at a time. Emiko smiled as she watched his enthusiasm. No one would be able to tell that half a year ago the boy had been timid and unsure of himself.

Now he was a bright boy who was clearly happy about his life.

Once he received the blessing of the temple, Daisuke and Harry went to play at the festival. Both had been given enough money that they could enjoy themselves for a while.

Daisuke found the first game. It involved throwing circles around the prizes. While Harry was good at _catching_ small objects, he was terrible at throwing them. Which is probably why Daisuke had better luck. They walked away with a small owl and rabbit doll. Harry picked the next game. The boys managed to catch a single fish each.

"Hey Dai, look! A takoyaki stand!" said Harry.

"You like fried octopus?"

Harry grinned at him.

"Why not? I like trying new things...except natto."

Daisuke laughed. It turned out Harry had a sixth sense for delicious food. He zeroed in on at least four different stands that had great food.

However _neither_ boy tried the natto.

* * *

Christmas morning came and went with only one difference. Emiko let the boys sleep in and didn't bother with the traps. Both were quit surprised, but didn't comment. They spent their vacation reading from the library and helping Emiko clean their rather large art collection.

Which was when Harry found the swords. One was silver bright with a small pair of moons on the hilt. The other shined like gold, but wasn't made from it. It had small suns on the hilt.

Emiko looked them over and promptly knew what they were.

"The legendary Celestial swords. If I remember right, we got those as payment for sealing the magic of some idiot who kept killing people."

Harry picked up the one with the moon on it. Daisuke picked up the one with the sun. The two swords began to glow brightly in their hands.

Emiko looked impressed.

"Looks like you two will have more than magic lessons when you come home," she said brightly.

"Why?" asked Harry suspiciously.

"Those swords are a pair. Alone, one might be able to take out a minor ward or shield...but combined they can cut through any magic."

"Any magic?"

"_Any_ magic. According to legend anyway. We haven't been able to test the story."

The two looked at each other and nodded.

"We can test it," they said in unison.

* * *

They returned to Hogwarts to find the rumor mill going at full force. Over the holidays the Gryffindor ghost and a boy named Justin was hit by the force that attacked Mrs. Norris.

Fortunately, the boys were officially not suspects for the attack. It was well known by now that Harry was fond of Sir Nickolas and had no quarrel with Justin. Plus the attack happened while they were far, far from Hogwarts.

Alas, since they were away from the school they missed Lockhart having his ego handed to him by Snape.

They actually felt sorry for missing that.

Every weekend they had to spare, they practiced with the swords inside a room they discovered. While they were a bit...enthusiastic about the entire idea, it was clear that they needed someone who knew how to wield a katana properly.

So they placed their new swords in their trunks until they could take actual kendo lessons.

* * *

Three more attacks occurred over the next few months. Fortunately there were no fatalities...yet. However, there was something that bothered Daisuke about the attacks.

While he could accept there was a creature doing all the damage, he had a hard time believing that there were no fatalities. Which lead him to examine the attacks closer.

_Hmm...each attack happened when the victim was alone, and relatively unobservant. In each case the victim was petrified...but how? The spell to do such a thing is well beyond any student and the teachers have no motive to do it. Unless..._

Daisuke looked at each piece of evidence found at the attack sites.

Water, camera, ghost, glass, and of course there was the rather interesting piece of ice crystal that later melted. Which all lead him to one thing.

Reflection.

That was when it hit him. Whatever was petrifying the students wasn't doing so intentionally. It was a result of a reflection. And from what he could gather of Salazar Slytherin, they were likely dealing with some sort of snake. He was a reputed Parselmouth.

That thought had Daisuke immediately seeking Hermione Granger, the only person he knew who practically had the library catalog _memorized._

"Hermione-chan," asked Daisuke, "what sort of snake lives for hundreds of years?"

"What?"

Daisuke took a calming breath and repeated his question, trying to keep his English steady.

"What kind of snake could live this long?" repeated Hermione.

She worked out the clues herself, and her eyes widened.

The two headed straight to the library. Hermione promptly looked through the books and found something.

"_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_?" asked Daisuke.

Hermione looked through them and found what she was looking for him.

"Here it is! The basilisk!" said Hermione excitedly.

"That picture is wrong you know," said Daisuke.

"What?"

Daisuke looked through his bag and found a book. It was from the family library. Inside the book was a picture of a beast with the combination of a snake and a rooster.

"What is this?"

"From family library. _Bestiary Seals and how to break them._"

Hermione clearly wanted to read the book, but her desire to find the mysterious Monster of Slytherin outweighed her bookworm self.

"Basilisk: King of Serpents. Can kill with a glance...Spiders flee before it...Can live hundreds of years... This is the monster!"

Daisuke nodded.

"I figure as much. Salazar was a Parselmouth, which meant he preferred snakes over other magic creatures. And it made the most sense out of all the other creatures out there."

"While it does make sense, how on earth did you figure it out?" asked Hermione, curious.

Daisuke looked embarrassed, "My mother loves crime shows for some reason. Most likely because of her pride in our family's business. She encouraged me to think like a detective often."

"What is your family business?" asked Hermione.

"I have no idea. All I know is it involves art, a high standard of physical ability, and locks."

Hermione scrunched her face in confusion before she replaced the book. Daisuke noted with interest that she had torn a page out of it, and said nothing.

She reached into her bag and took out a small mirror. Daisuke took out something from his bag as well. They walked carefully around the corridors, keeping half an ear out for something slithering.

It was Daisuke who heard the voice first. It didn't sound human at all.

"_Must...kill... Must...rend! I smell humans!"_

He froze, and then grabbed Hermione's arm. Five seconds after he practically slammed the door closed, they heard something slithering on the ground outside the door.

Hermione's eyes widened in shock.

"How...?" she hissed.

"I asked my Grandfather over break whether we had any bloodline heritage in our family, and he mentioned that we had a knack for snake tongue...and taking care of magical creatures, like unicorns."

She gave him a look.

"And yes, I have heard the bit about parselmouth being the sign of a warlock, but frankly I could care less. Back home, it was considered a good thing."

"Why?"

Daisuke gave her an odd look.

"There are many legends of celestial dragons taking the form of snakes to sunbathe near small ponds and lakes. And there are a few tales of snake speakers who gained the favor of these dragons by being in the right place at the right time."

Once Daisuke was reasonably sure the creature was gone, they left the room. They looked around and saw no sign of the serpent.

They immediately headed to the common room to tell Harry of their findings.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry wasn't surprised to find that they were dealing with a large snake...but finding out that he _inherited_ the snake tongue did come as a surprise.

Still, that didn't stop him from heading to Hagrid to see if he knew anything. Harry had found a diary in Myrtle's bathroom after she had flooded it again.

What concerned him was that it apparently had a mind of it's own. Daisuke had hidden it in his trunk, under the sword.

They had returned from lunch the next morning to find the dorm completely trashed, and Harry's trunk thrown about the room. The other trunks were moved...except for Daisuke's. (His had a ward on it that only responded to the Japanese command.)

Harry immediately knew what the person was looking for.

The cursed diary of Tom Marvolo Riddle. Originally Harry would have kept it in his trunk, but Daisuke had wanted to look at it later. They were planning to try out a few seals on it.

As it was, they decided to take it to the one teacher they _knew _had personal experience with the Dark Arts. One who would most likely not have them expelled for having it.

Snape.

* * *

Snape held the book gingerly in his hand, as far from him as possible. It was a rather interesting reaction to such a harmless looking book.

"What is it Professor?"

"This...where did you say you got it?" he asked.

"Myrtle said someone threw it at her in the U-bend. I went to ask what was wrong and she mentioned it."

"This is a horcrux. It is considered one of the darkest artifacts to date. Simply making one earns you a one way trip and a lifetime stay at Azkaban."

"What is it?" asked Daisuke.

"A horcrux is an artifact that contains a piece of the caster's soul. Essentially you kill someone and at the moment of their death you rip apart your own soul and place it in something. Most of the time it's an inanimate object, but there have been a few cases of a living thing having a soul placed inside them."

"What should we do?" asked Daisuke.

"Stay here while I send this to Madam Bones. She'll want your statements, I'm sure."

They waited patiently for the Aurors to arrive, and Daisuke told him everything he had learned about the name on the book. Finding out that the book was actually something from Voldemort's school days gave the Auror department nightmares.

* * *

There was another attack, just before the final match of the year. And the girl who was attacked only confirmed that Harry and his cousin had nothing to do with the monster.

It was Hermione.

Harry had thought that getting the cursed book out of the school would stop the problem at it's source.

Apparently not.

At first Harry planned to go to Lockhart for help. But Daisuke had a better idea. Since they were dealing with the monster of _Slytherin_, it would make more sense to ask help from that house.

To that end they went to Snape, much to Ron's horror.

"What do you want Niwa?" asked Snape. (Upon learning they were cousins, Snape agreed to leave Daisuke _and_ Harry alone so long as he wasn't reminded that Harry's last name was Potter.)

"We know where the Chamber of Secrets is. We thought it would be a good idea to enlist the help of a teacher," said Harry.

Snape raised an eyebrow. He was well aware that first year Potter and his cohorts believed _he_ was the one after the Stone. The fact that Harry came to him told him a great deal of how much his cousin influenced him.

"Very well. But none of your Gryffindor bravery, understand?"

"Not a problem...especially seeing as how the hat originally wanted to put me in Slytherin first year," said Harry offhand.

Both of his eyebrows shot up at that information. Snape followed the boys straight to Myrtle's bathroom.

Daisuke had long ago learned how most of the ghosts in the castle had died. The remnants actually didn't mind him asking, even Peeves was more than happy to tell how he died. (Which resulted in a severe drop in pranks against Gryffindor for four months that mystified the other houses.)

It was because of his genuine interest that the cousins put the clues together and discovered where Slytherin hid his Chamber. The last place they expected it to be.

A girl's bathroom.

* * *

Harry and Daisuke carefully inspected the sinks. Daisuke was the one who discovered which one held the key. Myrtle drifted around him and said in a conversational tone "That one has never worked."

"Thank you Myrtle-chan," said Daisuke.

Once everyone was in front of the sink, Daisuke hissed _"Open."_

Snape stared in shock at the boy, and Ron narrowed his eyes. He had long been suspicious of Daisuke since he realized how close Harry was, and finding out that the boy was his cousin hadn't helped.

Now that he knew about Daisuke's gift, he was even more wary of the red head.

"You speak parseltongue?" said Snape.

"Everyone in the family can. It's not really considered a bad thing in Japan."

The other two looked at Harry who shrugged.

"I've known I could speak it since before I got my letter. I set a python on Dudley once."

The sink slid into the floor, and the top of the mirrors levitated up into the ceiling. As one, the sinks all moved away from the center and opened up into a large hole. It was easily wide enough for even Hagrid to go down.

"Who goes down first?" asked Harry.

It was then that the ever annoying idiot known as Lockhart appeared.

"I knew it all along! The foreign boy confunded you, hasn't he!" pronounced Lockhart.

Snape gave him a look.

Harry edged closer to Snape and whispered "Can we use him for bait?"

Snape snorted.

"Unfortunately no."

As Lockhart drew closer, Harry had a rather mean spirited idea.

"Well Professor, since you are here, perhaps you would like to join our little expedition to kill the monster of Slytherin?"

Lockhart brightened up and was about to go over his list of accomplishments when Daisuke promptly pushed him down the drain.

After about ten seconds they heard an "Oomph!" from the blowhard.

"Ten seconds. Not long drop then," said Daisuke.

"How would you know that?" demanded Ron.

"Ten seconds at his weight is about one, maybe two kilometers max."

"He's right. Can't be more than the space between the Charms and Transfiguration floors."

Since Ron clearly wasn't convinced, Harry pushed him down next. After that the remaining three dropped down as one. Once they reached the bottom, they realized what they had fallen on.

It was a rather worrying large mound of skeletal remains. Most of them were rats and the like.

"Where to now?" asked Ron.

They allowed Lockhart to lead, since if the basilisk were to appear he would be killed first. (Not like any of them would miss the man.)

Suddenly he stopped in horror.

"How big did you say this monster was?" he squeaked.

Right in front of the blowhard was the largest snakeskin they had ever seen. What was rather disconcerting was that the thing had to be at least eighty feet long.

Which was when Lockhart decided to reveal his real character.

Unfortunately for him, Daisuke had the skills of a master pickpocket. He went to look for his wand only to find out that he no longer _had _his wand.

"Looking for this?" asked Daisuke, spinning the stick around his hand.

"Give me that!"

Lockhart charged at him, intent on retrieving his wand. Harry stuck out his foot at the precise moment he passed him, and the man fell flat on his face.

Snape smirked evilly.

"Incarcerous!"

Ropes flew out of his wand and tightened cruelly around Lockhart.

"Say another word and I will look the other way if these two use you as bait," he sneered.

* * *

Ron was shocked. He never knew his best friend could do this to a teacher, even one as annoying as Lockhart. Everything seemed to fall apart this year.

Harry turns out to be a pure-blood with a cousin who could also use magic. Hermione finds someone who encourages her irritating bookworm tendencies. Their defense teacher turns out to be a load of crock.

But the worst thing in his mind was this.

Daisuke had somehow changed Harry. Harry had left Hogwarts last year timid and unsure. Now he could speak another language, woke up at obscene times, and was drifting apart from him. He spent more time with his cousin than he did with Ron!

That and a few minor things that Daisuke did really irked the boy. Ron simply didn't like him, even though Daisuke had tried to be kind about it.

One of the many things that really bothered him was the fact that Daisuke had admitted to being from a rich pure-blood family that went back hundreds of years, and that he knew most of the family.

(Ron had overheard Daisuke mentioning that his family dealt with antique art pieces that were hundreds of years old, most acquired over the course of four hundred years. And that a majority of the pieces were magical in nature.)

While Ron was going over his list of why he didn't like Harry's cousin, he didn't notice that Lockhart had somehow managed to slip out of the bindings that Snape put him in. Had he paid more attention to the idiot, he would have prevented what happened next.

Lockhart lunged at Ron, and grabbed the wand from his hand. He held it in his right hand, and sneered at them all.

The man revealed the true source of his success right before he prepared to cast the memory charm.

Apparently, Gilderoy Lockhart was a plagiarist of the worst kind. He would learn about the success of others, before he wiped out their memory of the event and took credit. He had been doing it for years.

"_Obliviate!_"

Unfortunately for the blowhard, Ron's wand had been snapped after Dobby the house elf had closed the barrier early. (Ron had crashed the flying car into the ever violent Whomping Willow.)

The wand finally had enough and backfired on the idiot, causing him to lost _his _memory. The resulting backlash from the charm caused the tunnel to rumble ominously.

Harry and Daisuke, who had been standing close to the head of the shed skin, were split from the others. Snape, Ron and Lockhart all stood on the other side of the cave-in.

Snape looked at the boys with annoyance.

"Once again it seems you must deal with things alone. Try not to get killed will you? I would rather not explain to that old goat how you died under my watch," said Snape, crossly.

Harry snickered.

"Will do Professor. Would you like us to get you some basilisk parts?"

Snape lost his cross look.

* * *

Daisuke and Harry carefully walked past the loose rock that now littered the tunnel. Since they were mostly on a rescue mission, they had their new swords in their hands.

Ginny Weasly had mysteriously disappeared before lunch, and it had most of the teachers running around trying to find her. They were worried that she had been killed by the monster.

Fifty feet away from where they found the snake skin, they were confronted with a large circular door...with many decorative snakes on it.

It was Harry's turn to open the door.

"Open."

"You have to hiss it, cousin."

Harry concentrated on the snakes.

"_Open."_

The serpents began to hiss, as a long snake slithered around the circumference of the door. Where it passed, the other snakes shrunk into the door. When it disappeared into the crack at the bottom, the door swung open.

The cousins walked into the Chamber carefully. Daisuke had a plan on how to deal with the enormous snake. Harry only hoped that it would work.

* * *

He was annoyed. The Potter brat had found his diary, and instead of retrieving it like she was supposed to, the wench failed to locate the book!

Now he was stuck inside the girl, much to his anger. The fact that she was a pure-blood didn't help alleviate that.

He heard the door open, and there stood the brat who offed him, along with the foreign boy. He smirked, his control over the girl very strong now.

* * *

Harry was a bit surprised at the tacky snake décor in the Chamber. Sure, he didn't mind snakes, but this was ridiculous!

That was when they spotted her.

Ginny looked off, and not in a good way. Something seemed to be possessing her.

"_**Welcome to my ancestor's Chamber, Potter!" **_she sneered.

Harry knew full well that Ginny wasn't a descendant of Slytherin. Which meant he was dealing with dear old Tom.

"Let her go Tom," said Harry angrily.

"_**So you know who I am. Good! That will cut down on the petty distractions!"**_

Ginny began to hiss clearly in parseltongue. The relief on the far wall began to open it's mouth, and they could hear something inside. It wanted out!

Daisuke looked at his cousin in worry.

"_I really hope your plan works!"_

The cousins took the hand of the other. As the serpent emerged from the relief, they stared at it.

Before the basilisk came close enough to use it's deadly gaze, they began to chant in Ancient Greek. The long string of words began to permeate the air, almost making the atmosphere cloying.

The basilisk began to glow an angry green color, and upon the last word the glow shattered like glass. It hissed and began to approach the boys.

Tom sneered at them. The spell didn't work...or so he thought. It was then he realized that both boys were staring at the serpent in the eyes...and they _weren't_ dying!

"_**What did you do?"**_ he snarled furious.

Daisuke smirked.

"We sealed away the deadly gaze," said Daisuke grinning.

"_**You WHAT?"**_

Harry grinned wildly.

"We took away the most potent weapon it has. And only _we_ can bring it back!"

The basilisk hissed, and the two grinned even wider. They both held up their swords, which began to glow from within. They slashed on both sides of the snake, and the sound of chains breaking was heard.

"_I'm FREE! Thank you, hatchlings!"_ hissed the basilisk happily. It slithered past the two boys and out of the Chamber. Daisuke heard Ron's squawk of surprise and Snape's yelp.

Tom faced the two angrily. How dare they release the monster! He charged at them, prepared to kill them both for the affront.

Daisuke and Harry held up a single red feather and began to chant again. The Niwa clan was most known among the magical community for their sealing magic, but they were also known for exorcising spirits.

They had a secondary library for that.

Tom screamed in agony. The spell was literally ripping apart his hold on Ginny. As he was being torn out of the girl by Harry, Daisuke's spell was shoring up her ability to resist possession. It was a two part spell.

Once Tom was finally out of her, Ginny collapsed. Harry went to her side, to see if she was alright. Daisuke helped his cousin carry Ginny out of the Chamber.

* * *

Snape had carefully cleared away most of the rubble by the time they reached him. They had barely been inside the Chamber for an hour.

"Ginny! What happened?" asked Ron.

"Voldemort possessed her. I think she got a hold of that diary we found in Myrtle's bathroom," said Harry, readjusting his hold.

Ron took over for Daisuke, who made sure the basilisk wasn't up ahead.

Once they reached the bottom of the shaft, they realized they had a small problem. While it was relatively simple to get _to_ the Chamber, getting up would be almost impossible with Ginny unconscious.

Snape sighed, and took out his wand.

"_Expecto Patronum!"_

A large silver falcon appeared from the tip. It sat patiently and waited for the message.

"Minerva, bring five brooms to Myrtle's loo. We found the Chamber and have Ms. Weasly with us."

The falcon flew off into the castle. Ten minutes later five brooms were thrown down the shaft. Ron held onto his sister while the others mounted theirs. While Lockhart no longer had any clue _who_ he was, he could still ride a broom. Five minutes later they were up and out of the dark tunnels.

McGonagall had an amused look on her face at the state of Snape's robes.

She turned to Harry and the others and said "What do you four have to say for yourselves?"

"Snape was the only person who would believe us and Lockhart decided to be an even bigger idiot than usual?" said Harry hopefully.

She conceded the point. If Harry and Daisuke told her about the Chamber she certainly wouldn't have allowed them to go down it. She levitated Ginny ahead while Snape kept pushing Lockhart along.

Aside from forcing the boys to drink an all-around cure-all in case they picked something up from the tunnels, they were allowed to leave.

Of course Daisuke and Harry had to explain what the spell they used did. Ginny would be stuck in the hospital wing for the next day or so while the spell took full effect.

* * *

The school was abuzz over their adventure. The fact that Ginny had been possessed was thankfully not a topic.

Soon the boys were heading home, and they noticed a conspicuous absence when they reached the air port.

It was almost empty. This set off major alarms in their heads, as they ducked simultaneously scant seconds before someone aimed a hex at them. In broad daylight.

Harry looked behind him as they stayed down.

It was Dumbledore. He had place muggle-repelling wards around the area so he could capture them. He had come with one intention only.

To capture his golden boy and force him to stay with Petunia Dursley. There was no way he was going to let Harry out of his control now.

Unfortunately for the aging headmaster, Daisuke had anticipated such a move the day they saw his form outside the airplane window. Inside the Niwa clan library was a scroll on how to temporarily seal the magic of European Wizards. It was a fair sized scroll, and from what Daisuke could tell it was written when the Eastern mages noticed with alarm at the growing number of _Dark_ wizards produced in Europe.

In an attempt to help their Western counterparts, the Japanese created a spell that would make it impossible for wands to work within a certain area.

And since practically _every_ wizard and witch in Europe was trained to use a wand or to funnel their magic in that form, the spell would make them as helpless as a muggle. More so, because most of their European brethren never bothered to learn other forms of combat.

Which is why when Daisuke hit the headmaster with the spell, the man looked stupidly at his wand and then at the boy. Who took that time to dash at the old man and swept his feet out from under him.

Dumbledore went down like a sack of bricks. Daisuke had been trained in more than how to be a good Phantom Thief.

Emiko had taught him martial arts when she realized how good he was at positioning his feet and arms properly. Daisuke was a yellow belt in two forms of hand to hand combat.

Once Dumbledore went down, Harry took the opportunity to grab their things and run to the counter. The clerk paid no attention the fight, or the fact that a twelve year old had assaulted an old man with clashing colors.

He checked in, and had With signal Daisuke. His cousin took one last swipe at the old man's feet before he ran with Harry to the metal detectors.

The only way the old man would be able to follow them through those would be to buy a ticket...with muggle money.

Soon they were home free and heading back to Japan.


	6. Chapter 6

Emiko was furious that Dumbledore attempted to kidnap her nephew. She wrote a scathing letter to the English Ministry threatening to take _both_ boys out of Hogwarts.

Since the Ministry's opinion of the boy-who-lived was very high at the moment, they gave Dumbledore a warning. If he interfered with either of the boy's again they would permanently remove him from his positions in both Hogwarts and the Ministry itself.

As it was, the English Magical Community was already in hot water with their Eastern counterparts. If Dumbledore attacked the boys again while they were heading to Japan, they would likely be banned from the East!

* * *

_Meanwhile, in Japan..._

Harry was enjoying his summer vacation. Emiko had enrolled him into the same lessons Daisuke had started to take when he was eight. (Which was when he began to learn magic. Unlike Europe, Japan starts as soon as the presence of magic is confirmed.)

Between his magical and non-magical studies, Harry was quite busy.

Of course that didn't count all the letters Hermione and Ron sent him. They were attempting to make up for last summer. This time Dobby wouldn't steal his letters.

Not that the small house elf would bother. Harry had managed to help free the little elf from his cruel master, Lucius Malfoy. The man had not been happy when Daisuke had disarmed him before he could curse Harry.

In exchange for freeing Dobby, the house elf agreed to serve the Niwa clan. Emiko had him help around the house by cleaning most of the art and putting some of the damaged pieces in a different room until they could be fixed.

Dobby had been ecstatic to serve the clan that the 'great Harry Potter' came from. (Something Harry had unsuccessfully tried to get him to stop.)

* * *

Ron sent Harry the newspaper that would change a few things.

_**Sirius Black Escapes from Azkaban!**_

_**Sirius Black, convicted of killing thirteen muggles and one wizard, escaped Azkaban last Friday after a visit from Minister Fudge.**_

_**Aurors commented that Black was heard saying "He's at Hogwarts. He's at Hogwarts."**_

_**The Minister has decided to post guards on Hogwarts grounds until Black is captured.**_

Harry honestly couldn't see the problem with the security they already had. It wasn't like Black could get into the common rooms without the password or anything.

Daisuke watched on the sidelines as Harry managed to toss his opponent to the ground with some difficulty. Whenever they returned from school and got through the traps, Daisuke would help Harry with his positions.

While Harry was fairly good at remembering where to put his hands, he had difficulty getting his feet to go where he wanted them.

Still, he managed to get a belt. Daisuke promised to help his cousin improve his stances later.

Daisuke had also gotten another belt, so he moved up a level.

Things were fairly normal around the house, aside from the usual chaos that was the Niwa household.

Emiko set up crazy traps, the boys found randomly cursed spellbooks (set up by their grandfather to teach them how to get past the Restricted Section), and the two managed to finish their Hogwarts homework with time to spare.

Still, the last thing he expected out of his summer was to gain a new pet. Or so he thought.

* * *

While he was returning from the small bookstore that held how-to manuals for muggle pranks, he found a thin looking dog. One who appeared to have been abandoned for some time.

In his pocket was a small snack his aunt made him for his break. She gave both boys a day off to spend how they wanted. Daisuke took the time to paint, Harry would explore a random store.

Harry knelt down and held out the snack.

"Here boy..." he whistled. The dog sniffed the small sandwich and took a cautious bite.

Once the hound had devoured the snack, it whined pitifully.

"Sorry boy. I don't have anything else on me."

Harry wasn't surprised to find that the dog followed him home. Emiko had no problem with dogs, even big ones. So long as it stayed _outside_ until it got a bath and had a check up.

Daisuke loved animals as much as his cousin. Which was why he kept sneaking food to the dog. (They decided to eat outside because the weather was nice.)

"_If_ the dog passes the vet's exam, what do you plan on naming it?" asked Emiko. The whole family loved animals in general.

"Sirius," said Harry without thinking.

"Why Sirius?" asked Daisuke.

Harry cocked his head.

"I don't know. It just sounded like that's the dog's name."

The dog in question barked in good nature. While it was a large breed and looked vaguely like an Irish _Black Dog_ that was infamous for causing death, it was a rather gentle hound. Even when Emiko accidentally touched one of it's rather painful bruises, it only yelped.

"Sirius it is. I'm sure we can blackmail that old man into letting you bring him into the school," said Daichi.

The three grinned. Dumbledore owed them big time for not pressing charges.

* * *

Two weeks before they would return to Hogwarts, they found out the truth about their new _pet._

Emiko went to take the hound to the vet. She hadn't scheduled an appointment, because the last time she did the dog had managed to hide for three hours until she gave up.

That was her first clue that the dog wasn't a normal dog.

So when it shifted from canine to human, she was only mildly surprised. Harry dropped the leash in his hands from shock.

"I hate needles," said the man. His voice was gravelly from disuse.

Harry recognized him from the newspaper clipping Ron had sent him.

"Sirius Black?"

"I'm innocent?" he said, holding up his hands in surrender.

Emiko didn't lower her wand a bit. Sirius' only saving grace was that she was giving him a chance to explain himself before she hexed him.

"I was framed by someone I called a friend and never given a trial. I am not a murderer, nor do I desire to be one."

Daisuke spotted the man and stared in shock.

"Dai, sweetie, can you get the silver bowl from the potions cabinet and veritaserum from the third shelf?"

Daisuke returned five minutes later. He was trying not to spill the bowl's contents. Last time he had, his mother grounded him for a week.

Sirius willingly allowed Emiko to tie him up, and gave his side of the tale. Once he had proved he was in fact innocent, she released him.

"So am I cleared?"

Emiko gave him a rather disturbing smile.

"While you are free to roam the house, I'm afraid I can't let you go anywhere with the boys. 12 years in Azkaban can do things to a person, particularly when they are innocent of all charges."

"Basically you want to be sure I am still sane after what I went through?" Sirius asked.

Emiko nodded. Daiki had already left to inform the Japanese Ministry of Sirius' innocence.

An hour later Sirius endured the same treatment, only this time he wasn't tied up. Once it was all over, he was declared a free man anywhere outside Europe. Sirius had one request for his memories though.

* * *

Remus looked up from his couch and saw the owl. It was a beautiful snowy white, and it had a vial in it's claws. Upon further inspection the vial proved to contain memories. Who they belonged to, he had no idea.

Fortunately he happened to own a small pensieve.

Once he came out, he had to reevaluate his thoughts about his former friend. Sirius had been imprisoned for a long time.

* * *

Sirius was antsy. While he was free to go about as he pleased (not that he could because of his weakened condition), he still wanted to protect his godson.

He knew that the traitor was there. But he had no idea how he was going to get in with his face on the wanted posters.

Emiko had an idea about that though. And it would help his mental state.

She went into the family library and found the book she needed. Then she went to work, carving the runes in the leather. It took her all day, but she finished it in time.

Sirius looked skeptical about the collar she made him.

"What's this?"

"Well according to the English Ministry your animal form is Harry's familiar. But there's a good chance that someone would realize you're actually a wizard. But this will allow you to stay by his side until Christmas at the very least."

"What is it?"

"A complex binding spell specific to animagi. The only one who can take it off is the one it is bound to. And since I am going to key it to Harry..."

"So if I put this on, no one will be able to tell I'm human?"

"You'll have some control of your mind, but mostly you'll believe you're a dog. That will fool any spells specific to detecting animagi forms. Most of those are based on detecting human thoughts in animal psyche."

"I'll wear it."

"Dumbledore shouldn't be too much of a problem, but if he is you have my full permission to bite him where the sun doesn't shine."

"What did he do?"

Emiko had a cold look on her face.

"He attempted to kidnap my children. I will not allow that man to control either of my boys."

Emiko Niwa was _not_ a woman to be crossed when it came to the safety of her children.

* * *

Harry, Daisuke and the playful Orion, as Sirius insisted they call his dog form, waited patiently for the Weaslys and Grangers to appear. The boys had ogled the brooms, refilled their dwindling potion kits, and hit the bookstore hard. After that they had to get new trunks, since the ones they had were so full they were impossible to close.

Orion lead them straight to the Auror class trunks, which they both bought.

After that they hit the bank one last time.

Once they woke up, they promptly turned the trunks into their smaller form, and took the Knight Bus to the station.

They arrived at the station early enough that they could chose which compartment they wanted. So they looked for one where Malfoy would leave them alone.

They found one fairly easy. The new Defense teacher was sleeping in it.

"_What do you think cousin?"_

"_Let's sit here and read. The poor man looks like he needs some sleep anyway,"_ replied Daisuke.

The man shifted, but remained sound asleep.

It didn't take long for the cousins to begin reading books from the family library. Orion fell asleep on the spot next to the new teacher, and was soon snoring away.

Harry looked up and grinned. Since they were on the train and the place was full of magic, he was going to do something amusing.

Harry took out a feather and said something almost silently. The feather vanished and Orion glowed briefly.

The new teacher woke up and looked around. He felt that spell being cast. Then he saw the hound and grinned in amusement.

Orion wasn't black anymore. He was a pale purplish color.

"What color is that?" asked the teacher.

"Fuchsia, I think," answered Daisuke, once he took a look.

Harry held out his hand.

"I'm Harry and this is my cousin Daisuke."

"Remus Lupin, your new Defense teacher."

"Good luck surviving the year Professor."

Remus grinned.

"What is that you two are reading?"

"Sealing spells. You can have a look if you want."

Remus borrowed one of the books. He could sleep later. Though when he took a look at the first page his jaw dropped.

"Do these spells work?"

"Which one? All of them have been tested at least once, according to our grandfather," said Daisuke.

"This spell to seal the form of the lunar wolf."

Harry looked up from his book in surprise.

"You're a werewolf professor?"

Remus flinched.

"Well at least you'll know how to actually _handle_ dangerous situations. The last guy was terrible and never assigned any spells or real homework at all."

Remus inwardly sighed with relief. The boys didn't looked frightened by the fact that he was a werewolf, only curious. Orion yawned, then rolled over.

Hermione came in, scowling. She had gone up the train to talk to some of the Ravenclaw girls, and had run into Malfoy. Ron had been kidnapped by the twins earlier.

She gave the cousins a look and said "Please tell me you have a spell we can use on the ferret."

"What did he do this time?" asked Harry with a sigh. He had hoped to start off the year in a calm manner.

Hermione repeated what he had said, and both boys looked furious. It was bad enough that Malfoy had called her a mudblood last year, but that word was uncalled for.

Professor Lupin didn't look too happy either, but he couldn't assign detentions this early. (Prefects on the other hand, could, since they rode the train.)

* * *

Malfoy sneered. Once again Potter and his idiot cousin were on the train. His father had decided to teach him some barely legal curses to use on them both. After the humiliation the two of them had dealt the Malfoy family, he was eager to test them out.

Only to discover to his disappointment, that there was a new teacher there. Probably there to teach Defense.

He left only when the teacher gave him a look.

Definitely not the best way to start the year.

* * *

Harry fell asleep with the rocking of the train. Daisuke discussed magic with Professor Lupin, who was disappointed to learn that most of the students weren't as intelligent as the cousins.

Orion had been forced onto the other bench, since Hermione had taken his spot. So he went back to sleep on Harry's lap. The boy didn't mind in the least.

Hermione of course wanted to know why there was a pinkish purple dog on the train.

"Orion is a good dog, but he whines too much when Harry is gone. My mother blackmailed Professor Dumbledore into letting him come."

Remus snorted. She would have to blackmail the old goat in order to get a dog as big as Padfoot into the Gryffindor tower.

Suddenly the train stopped without warning. Harry jerked awake once the rocking motion ceased. Orion whined as the carriage became very cold.

Remus sprang up. Why were the dementors searching the train? They were only supposed to search the school before it began, then maintain a post outside the school.

A hand opened the door, but Harry was feeling the effects of the dementors acutely. Daisuke, thinking quickly, grabbed his sword.

The Sun sword shone brightly, and the dementor fled from that light. The fell things thrived in darkness and foul air.

The sword represented everything the creatures hated.

"_Itoko, daijobu?"_

Harry replied calmly, though he was a bit weak from the dementor.

"_Daijobu, Daisuke."_

The train continued on it's journey...but now both cousins were wary. If Harry got too close to a dementor, it could knock him out!

* * *

"And now I would like to say a few words of warning. The Ministry has decreed that Dementors will guard the gates until Sirius Black is caught or the threat has ended. Please do not provoke them, for they will not distinguish their prey from an innocent bystander."

Daisuke growled. Those things had almost hurt his cousin. If they came anywhere near him or Harry again, he wasn't going to let them live.

Harry and Daisuke fell straight asleep, with Orion already stealing half of Harry's bed.

Harry gave him a good natured kick off the bed, and when he finally laid down, the dog immediately jumped back on and pinned his legs.

"Evil dog..." yawned Harry.

Orion woofed, and went back to sleep.

_The next morning..._

Daisuke woke up early, and saw both Harry and Orion still asleep. Orion kept twitching every so often, like he was chasing something.

Probably a rabbit.

Daisuke grinned, and picked up the pitcher of water by the window. Orion, who had developed a sixth sense for mischief, opened a single eye and before the water hit, leaped off the bed. Harry bolted out of his bed with a yelp.

"_Dammit Daisuke, that was COLD!"_ he growled.

Daisuke smirked.

"_I was aiming for the dog."_

Harry glared at his cousin.

"_Like hell you were."_

"_Well...mostly at the dog."_

Harry grumbled as he stole the first shower of the day. He wasn't catching a cold because his cousin decided to prank him!

* * *

Hermione walked downstairs. She had a nasty feeling that Harry and his cousin were up to no good. (Had developed a prankster radar in less than a year.)

It wasn't until she noticed the suspicious lack of _any_ noise that she ran down the stairs.

And narrowly got hit with a wooden sword.

Harry yelped, and shouted something to his cousin. Daisuke noticed where his bokuto was, and winced.

Hermione slowly walked past the runes she saw on the floor.

"_WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING?"_ she shrieked in a credible impersonation of Mrs. Weasly.

The two looked at each other and chirped "Practice."

Hermione seemed to take a deep breath, preparing for what was undoubtedly a long and high pitch rant.

Harry, sensing this, held up the one thing that would prevent the loss of their hearing.

He held up a very rare and ancient tome about magic that he had found in the bookstore.

"Hmph~!" snorted Hermione, and accepted the bribe.

Daisuke grinned behind her back and mouthed 'good one.'

Harry gave him a thumbs up in response.


	7. Chapter 7

"So what's your schedule this year?" asked Harry.

Daisuke handed him his schedule. Harry had gone for Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, and Advanced Transfiguration.

Daisuke had chosen Ancient Runes, Divination and Care of Magical Creatures.

"Isn't Divination on during the same time period as Ancient Runes?" asked Harry.

Daisuke smirked and said in Japanese _"McGonagall gave me a Time Turner so I can attend both. She would have given it to Hermione, but she was afraid the girl would over use it for her classes."_

"_Didn't she sign up for Muggle Studies?"_

"_Yeah, which is why I got the Time Turner and she didn't. She has to ask for the homework from the other students since she's a muggleborn."_

Harry grinned.

"_So are you going to keep the Time Turner if you drop one of them?"_

Daisuke smiled, and said with a straight face _"Why I have no idea where it went, Professor! By the way, which house should I implicate for the theft?"_

Harry's innocent smile wouldn't fool anyone who knew him.

"_I would say Slytherin, but there's a high probability that they would look for it. How about Sirius?"_

Sirius' poster had been plastered everywhere. Everyone was convinced he was a sociopath for some reason.

They had no idea that he was the rather large and playful hound that Harry had brought in with him from Japan.

"_Give him the Time Turner to send home, and then claim with all honesty that he has it?"_

"_Exactly."_

Daisuke cocked his head. That could actually work. If the rumors he heard about Divination were true, it was highly unlikely he or Hermione would continue it past Christmas anyway.

* * *

Harry sat patiently in the classroom. Ancient Runes sounded like it would be interesting. Plus his aunt had told him that it would help him in the family business when he turned fourteen.

Hermione was right next to him, and he grinned at her.

"So how was Divination?"

"It was annoying. She actually had the gall to predict Daisuke's death when he turned fourteen!"

"No wonder people keep saying she's a fraud. Anything interesting happen?"

"Aside from Ron burning his mouth from drinking the scalding tea too quickly, no."

They sat there, and listened attentively to the teacher. The class was definitely interesting. For the most part they would be translating mythology from whatever civilization they were studying that term.

This term it was Greek runes.

* * *

Harry, Daisuke and Hermione walked down to Hagrid's hut. For some reason Dumbledore had upgraded the rather wild looking man to 'sane adult', even though Hagrid's view of harmless was a bit more broad that normal.

But what they encountered was at least sane, for Hagrid.

Hippogryffs.

Daisuke was impressed with the creatures, and was one of the few able to get his book open.

"Alright, so who wants to go first?"

Harry and Daisuke were the only ones who weren't trying to hide behind the fence.

The two cousins looked at each other and grinned.

They gave their hippogryff a proper Japanese bow, and then proceeded to set it purring.

Of course neither boy expected Hagrid to lift them up and set the creatures flying.

* * *

"So who are we facing first?" asked Harry.

"Slytherins, who else?" laughed the twins.

Harry made a face.

"Great. Malfoy... You just know he's going to be a pain in the morning."

"Just don't lose then!" laughed Fred.

Harry mounted his beloved broom, and prepared to take flight. This was the first match of the year, and was the only reason he got up this early.

Plus if they won, Wood would shut up. It was a win-win.

When the whistle sounded, Harry kicked off hard. The rain was pouring like mad, but Daisuke had charmed his glasses so he could see. Alas, he still couldn't see the snitch. He could barely tell where his own team was.

He just heard the time out whistle, and he gladly landed.

"How are you holding up Harry?" asked Wood.

"Fine, but I can't really see anything!"

Hooch looked at them impatiently, and they reluctantly took back to the air.

"Who's dumbass idea was it to have a game today?" he snarked.

Suddenly he heard screams, and looked down.

Dementors had flooded the pitch!

He tried his best to stay conscious, but it was hard. Dementors seemed to effect him more than most.

He could feel himself started to pass out. Then he realized why.

There were dementors in the air with him! His anger at them interfering with the game fought against their foul presence. He wasn't going to let them knock him out of the air!

Somewhere deep inside, he heard a chuckling. Slowly he could hear it much more clearly over the screams of his parents.

"_**I like you kid. I may not be able to manifest in you just yet, but I can still help you."**_

'Who...who are you?"

"_**My name...is Kaito Dark Mousy. But you can call me partner."**_

It was right then that a dementor came right in front of him, and he lost control of his body. Kaito Dark was awake, and he didn't want to lose his partner just yet.

* * *

Harry awoke in the hospital wing, to find his cousin looking at him with concern.

"What the hell happened?"

"You nearly fell off your broom. Somehow you caught the Snitch before your broom went out of control," said George.

"Why the hell were those..._things_ on the pitch?"

"Dumbledore and McGonagall are furious. They're only supposed to guard the gates. But they've grown so hungry that the Quidditch match seemed like an all you can eat buffet to them."

"Cousin, what happened on the pitch?"

"The dementors were effecting me like usual, when I heard something. Next thing I knew, I was passed out and woke up here."

"What did you hear?" asked Hermione, concerned.

"Something I'm going to ask my aunt about," said Harry firmly.

He learned the hard way last year that hearing voices was a bad sign in the magical community. He had just barely kept the entire wizarding population from thinking he was evil last year, the last thing he needed was for everyone to find out that he had a voice in his head!

* * *

Emiko read the letter with a bit of shock and envy. It seemed Harry awoke faster than normal. First the wings manifested and now he could hear Dark.

"_Dear Aunt Emiko..._

_What do you know about a Thief known as Dark Mousy? During our last Quidditch match, I heard a voice that said his name was Kaito Dark Mousy. Next thing I knew I had apparently caught the Snitch and had kept a hold of my broom with dementors around._

_He mentioned something about manifesting in me. Could you please explain what he meant?_

_Love, Harry."_

"Dad, is it possible to manifest Dark before fourteen?" asked Emiko.

"No. Every record of Dark's appearance start at fourteen and no sooner. Why?"

"Apparently Harry has heard Dark's voice."

Daiki choked on his tea. Dark normally didn't speak until the current heir had at least awakened to his blood. To be able to hear his voice a year early...

"I have only heard of a few accounts where Dark could be heard before the awakening. But the person who could hear him could also give him his own body for small amounts of time."

Emiko's eyes widened. Did this mean that Harry could bring Dark out when he awakened to the bloodline?

* * *

"_Dear Harry,_

_While it is unusual you can hear his voice early, Dark has been a part of the Niwa clan for four hundred years. When you come home for the summer, we'll explain everything when he fully wakes up. For now, try to keep him a secret, because he is part of your heritage and we don't want the old man finding out just yet. At least not until Dark fully wakes up._

_Love Aunt Emiko."_

To the annoyance of Harry, Dark turned out to be quite the talkative spirit. He seemed very interested in the school (and to his private horror the girls).

The only person who was sympathetic to his problem was his cousin. Though that was only because for some odd reason he could actually hear Dark.

At least he could get the spirit to shut up by finding interesting books (and through the power of magic) sending them to Dark so he would read them and be quiet for a few hours. How he did that, he didn't care.

However halfway to Christmas, he _did_ find a perk to having a second spirit in his head.

The potions classroom no longer gave him immense migraines.

Then again, that could have been because of Snape.

* * *

Harry was highly amused by his dog. Every time he had a bad day (usually caused by Dumbledore getting on his nerves), Orion the hound would cause mischief and make him laugh.

The twins adored the dog, and it didn't take long for a string of pranks to hit the school.

Sensing they could cause even _more_ mayhem if he let them know his real identity, Orion led them to the Room of Requirement, and then had Harry undo the collar.

Needless to say the twins were shocked to find out Orion was in fact Sirius Black.

Sirius easily got them to lower their wands with a single sentence.

"You do realize that I am one of the Marauders, right?"

Finding out that not only was Sirius Black innocent, but he was also _ Padfoot_ of the Marauders, the twins threw themselves on the ground chanting "We're not worthy!"

Harry was on the floor, laughing his ass off. It was too funny!

Remus realized that something was wrong when the twins stayed behind during his last class of the day.

It was Fred who told him how doomed he was.

"Why did you never tell us that you were Moony?"

"Oh bloody hell..." said Remus, and found himself cornered by the twins...and as soon as Harry removed the collar (he had gone in to watch the prank) Sirius.

Remus looked at Sirius, amused and said "You do realize McGonagall is going to kill me when she realizes I'm helping them prank the school."

"Yeah? How is that different than those times we used to have Prongs around?"

"If you three cause any destruction, I am blaming you Padfoot," he said flatly.

* * *

The school was hit with a rash of pranks that sent shivers of fear down the spines of the teachers. McGonagall recognized the handiwork immediately.

"Remus Lupin, I thought you agreed not to help the twins."

"I wasn't helping them. I was aiding and abetting, there's a difference."

"Which would be...?" she left it hanging.

"Helping would be giving them ideas. Aiding and abetting means I was participating with them. Along with a few others..."

"Oh dear lord...not Harry and his cousin?"

"Harry, his cousin and their dog," Remus confirmed.

McGonagall whined...then went back to her office and poured a large amount of scotch. If Harry and Daisuke were going to prank, then she was going to need it.

* * *

Harry was determined not to let anyone ruin Daisuke's first Christmas at Hogwarts. The twins had decided to stay back, if only to learn more from their idols of Padfoot and Moony.

Though Harry still snickered when he heard Remus' excuse for helping the twins pranks.

Orion of course, was sticking as close to the fire as possible. Remus promised to teach the cousins how to cast a Patronus, once he realized exactly how much the foul creatures were attracted to Harry.

To his surprise, he found out that the boys had already seen an actual patronus before.

"Expecto Patronum!" shouted Harry. His happy memory was one he held very dear.

It was the day he realized that he would _never_ have to go back to the Dursley clan, and that he would have an actual family that loved him.

The result of that memory was a semi solid fog.

Daisuke had something similar, as he focused on the day he first found out about his cousin.

Harry was the kindest, most open boy he had ever met, and that was saying something. He would go out of his way to help people and had a witty sense of humor that occasionally surfaced.

Riku once commented that his odd sense of humor only came out around his cousin.

His patronus wasn't nearly as solid as Harry's.

"Frankly boys you should be proud to even have fog. Not many can properly cast a Patronus charm. And corporeal ones are so hard that it's considered an accomplishment in itself.

"Corporeal?"

"A corporeal patronus is usually in the shape of an animal, though a few have more distinct human shapes. The most difficult issue with the charm is pushing your memories and feelings through the wand."

"What do you focus on Sensei?" asked Daisuke.

Remus gave him a half smile.

"The day I realized that my new friends didn't care about my condition, and were willing to go to Azkaban to keep me company on those rough nights."

Orion barked in good humor. Remus could easily translate it to 'Love you too Moony!'

Every other day, they would practice the charm. Harry seemed to make more headway against his cousin.

Dark would always watch with interest, and suggest new methods.

* * *

It was Christmas when in a fit of annoyance, Harry told the spirit to shut up...in the presence of Remus.

Remus and Orion gave him an odd look. Remus hadn't said anything to warrant such an outburst.

"Dark, shut up already!"

Seeing the looks between the two grown wizards, Daisuke quickly explained.

"Harry and I can hear a spirit called Dark Mousy. He has been giving really idiotic advice on magic for days now."

"And if he was here right now I would strangle him!" said Harry angrily.

"O...kay...?" said Remus unsure.

It was then that With, Daisuke bizarre pet that Emiko insisted he take with them, made his appearance. The utter oddity that was the rabbit familiar actually made Remus laugh on occasions.

Mainly because the rabbit had a strange habit of stealing the strawberries from countless cereal bowls, to the mortification of Daisuke who could hear the angry complaints of his classmates.

Everyone else (aside from the people With filched the strawberries from) found the little rabbit hilarious.

Particularly his dorm mates who occasionally woke up to the sound of Daisuke tossing the fur-ball at his cousin for nearly suffocating him in his sleep.

Harry had absolutely no issues with the rabbit, because he made it very clear to the innocent looking creature that it wasn't allowed anywhere near his pillow. With usually curled up next to Orion.

With made his usual sound, which had the expected tendency to send any female into coos of delight, and looked at Harry expectantly.

Harry picked the rabbit up, and scratched his belly. With loved Harry for good reason.

Apparently he got a really itchy spot, because he kept squirming like mad. Right up to the point where he abruptly shape shifted into Harry.

Everyone blinked twice. There were now two Harry Niwa in the room.

"Kyu?" said With, tilting his head.

Remus noted with great amusement that if any of his nephew's fan girl saw that they would pounce on him without hesitating. It was without a doubt 'cute'.

Harry saw another thing however.

He saw the perfect means to an alibi.

"We must never allow the twins to learn of this," he said.

Daisuke nodded, still in shock.

And with that, the pranks that hit Hogwarts became even worse. To top it all off, most of them were of the more cheesy overused Muggle variety, which immediately ruled out the twins.


	8. Chapter 8

Emiko was in the Japanese Ministry for one reason, and one reason only.

To use a little known clause in Japanese Society that would allow her to keep Harry and Daisuke from Hogwarts next year.

She only found out about it through her father. Apparently since she was a girl, they had skipped over it until a male heir was born.

She knew why of course, females couldn't inherit the full potential of the family (namely Dark), but they could still pass it on. And since Harry and Daisuke were both boys, she could legally remove them for a full year from that awful school.

As far as the English Ministry was concerned, she was removing them for private tutoring in Pure Blood customs.

Harry didn't know that in Europe, pure-bloods were introduced properly to society when they turned fifteen. Which meant no one would exactly complain when his pure-blood aunt removed him to learn all the proper procedures befitting his titles of the Potter heir.

They might frown because he was being taught by a foreigner, but they wouldn't complain...much.

* * *

Daisuke read the letter from his mother. She wanted him to find someone who was willing to help them ease into the pure-blood magical society and could handle being around Harry without going nuts over his status.

And that lead to only _one_ person in his mind. There was only one catch.

Harry had pretty much wreaked his first chance of a friendship thanks to Ron and his lack of actual tact.

Fortunately for him, he did not have that problem. And since he was a Japanese pure-blood, Draco had most likely been given word to at least attempt to cultivate a passable relationship around him, if only to open new venues of trade.

One which Daisuke had no issue with opening.

"Hello Malfoy-san."

Draco looked at the red head with something akin to surprise, but he hid that very quickly. While Daisuke reminded him painfully of the Weasly clan, he acted nothing like them. Mostly because unlike the Weaslys he didn't automatically give off a vibe that made him want to hex the boy on sight.

"Niwa-san. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

And so Daisuke asked him. Draco stared in disbelief.

"You do know that I can't stand your cousin, correct?"

"Ron is useless in this. You, on the other hand are a better choice than everyone else, and are less likely to go gaga over the fact that my cousin is famous."

Draco snorted. He could care less about Potter's fame, mostly because it was of no use to him.

On the other hand, if he made it known he helped Potter, he could ease himself into Japanese society. They were well known for having powerful sorcerers rather than wizards, and they had a larger arsenal of spells he could access.

Plus Hogwarts became so boring after you had been there a few years. You could practically do your homework in advance by asking the older students. The only exception to this rule was DADA, but that could be blamed on the fact that there wasn't a set teacher.

"I will agree to this on one condition. Potter better not complain when I help him in Potions."

"Done."

* * *

Harry looked at his cousin in disbelief. Daisuke had even showed him the letter.

"I have to suffer Malfoy? _Why_?"

"Mother said that if you can suffer Malfoy until you turn fifteen, you can stay in Japan next year. Something about a pure-blood law that allows home schooling to prepare for introduction into society."

Harry wanted to bang his head on something. Then he reconsidered.

"We won't have to come to Hogwarts next year?"

Daisuke shook his head.

"Fine...I can tolerate Draco Malfoy in low doses."

Of course Ron wasn't too happy to hear that Harry wasn't returning next year. Hermione actually envied him, because he would have access to even more books than Hogwarts. Plus there was the fact that the Japanese had all of their magical students continue on with their mundane studies.

It took all of a week for Dumbledore to learn about it, and he wasn't too happy. Not only was it impossible for him to stop it, but once in Japan Harry would be completely out of his control.

* * *

Months passed, and without warning the Quidditch Cup was upon them. Daisuke, upon finding out that one of the chasers was banned from the game due to a rather nasty case of the flu, offered to take her place.

It took all of a week to get him used to using a broom, and then a few days before he was passing the ball like he had been doing it for years.

And then...the game was upon them.

"Welcome to the last game of the season! It's a Gryffindor versus Slytherin match, and despite losing one of their Chasers, Gryffindor is determined to come out on top! Let's see how well the cousin of the famous Harry Potter handles Quidditch!

Lee did his usual biased announcing, and didn't bat an eyelash when McGonagall chastised him for his commentary.

Daisuke passed the quaffle to Angeline, who passed it back. Much to the amusement of the red head, while Harry could catch practically anything thrown at him, he couldn't throw at all. Whereas Daisuke was used to playing sports.

Soon Daisuke was on top of the post, and in a surprising move, he tossed it Katie Bell.

She scored the first point!

Enraged by this, the Slytherins retaliated the best way they knew how.

They went after Daisuke with a vengeance.

Daisuke, upon realizing that he was about to be forced into one of the higher stands, did the one thing they didn't expect.

A Wronski Feint. The two Slytherins unexpectedly came face to face with the dirt, and they were out cold for ten minutes.

With two chasers out of the way (one of which was Flint, who cheated even more than the others) Gryffindor suddenly dominated the game.

The score was almost tied with Gryffindor barely ahead by fifty points. Much to the shock of the fans, with Flint unconscious Oliver was actually able to stay in the gave for longer than thirty minutes.

Suddenly Harry spotted the Snitch. They were already at 200 points, which meant he could safely catch the thing. Daisuke threw the quaffle at just the right time to intercept a bludger, since the twins were busy trying to help Katie back on her broom.

Harry closed in on the golden ball...and then he actually caught it!

The cheers from the other students was deafening, and when the twins lifted him up he felt like he could take on a hundred dementors at once!

* * *

Daisuke and Harry waited for Remus to come in. A week ago, Orion sent the Time Turner from the school via owl to Emiko. Daisuke could honestly claim that Sirius Black had broken into his trunk and stolen it.

Hermione had been horrified to learn that Sirius Black had broken into the Gryffindor tower. McGonagall, even more so.

It had forced the girl to drop yet another of her classes.

Remus gave the boys the signal, and it didn't take long for him to gape in surprise.

Harry and his cousin had been practicing before bed. Harry's patronus was nearly corporeal, while Daisuke's was starting to take shape. From what he could tell Daisuke had a humanoid patronus to Harry's stag-like form.

Harry began to concentrate more on his happy thoughts, and his stag began to become more defined.

When Remus opened the case, and the boggart took form, Harry made a breakthrough.

His patronus had become fully corporeal! Daisuke on the other hand, wasn't ready just yet for a full patronus form. His waivered before it broke apart.

"Well done boys, well done! Twenty five points to each of you!" said Remus cheerfully.

It truly was impressive, considering the fact that most full grown wizards could barely produce a mist when confronted by a dementor. The fact that Harry could produce a corporeal one spoke volumes.

Orion barked, happy. Now he wouldn't have to worry about dementors eating his godson.

* * *

Harry was bent over the desk finishing his final. He hated it when the term was almost over...and it wasn't because of the homework he would undoubtedly have to do or the nerve racking finals that were soon on their way.

It had everything to do with the fact that every bloody year, at the end of term, he nearly got killed. And since there was very little indication as to _what_ would attempt to murder him this year, he was understandably on edge about it.

At this point he really suspected it would be those awful dementors outside. His luck was leaning heavily on those things...

He cracked his back and finished his finals. Once he was done, he promptly went straight to his dorm room and crashed on the bed.

If he didn't have to study for the next one, then he was taking a nap. He had finished twenty minutes early after all, and there wasn't any chance of any last minute studying helping at this point.

It was With who woke him up. Harry had managed to keep the rabbit from suffocating him in his sleep, but the rabbit had other ideas.

He was also panicking a lot. Which meant trouble for him in the long run.

Harry jumped out of his bed, grabbed his cloak which he stuffed into his bag, made sure his wand was within reach, and ran out of the common room. The rabbit had an innate sense of his two masters, and lead Harry straight to his cousin.

Who for some inexplicable reason, was faced with over a hundred dementors and a rather wobbly patronus barely keeping them at bay. All of the teachers were inside, giving tests. So there was no one around to help them.

Harry concentrated on one inescapable fact. It was something that had cheered him up every time he thought about it.

He wasn't coming back to Hogwarts next year. Which meant no near death experiences, no ridiculous blood war, and no Dumbledore.

It was with that happy thought in mind that he shouted the charm.

"_EXPECTO PATRONUM!"_

The silvery stag erupted from his wand, and sent the dementors flying from his cousin. Daisuke fainted, and Harry ran to him in concern.

While they hadn't administered the Kiss, being that close to them for nearly half an hour clearly had effected the boy. His stag kept the dementors far from him as he half carried, half dragged his cousin to the infirmary.

* * *

When Madam Pomphrey saw who it was, she was a bit surprised.

Normally it would be someone (mostly Ron or Hermione) carrying Harry into the hospital wing at the end of the year, not the other way around.

When she got a close look at Daisuke, she held back a snarl. The dementors had nearly taken his soul! And he was an innocent boy!

She looked at the time and gave Harry an excuse from the History of Magic final, since he was most definitely not leaving his cousin's side.

In less than an hour, McGonagall arrived looking furious. Madam Pomphrey had been quick to alert the woman of the attack. And she had no doubt in her mind that Emiko Niwa would be furious.

Unfortunately for Dumbledore, since Daisuke was a pure-blood from a foreign nation, his usual tactics of stalling the mail (or keeping it from being sent entirely) would be useless.

Especially since Harry had undone the collar on Orion five minutes after entering the hospital wing.

Sirius promptly sent a letter to Emiko, who he was eagerly awaiting. The reason was simple really... there were very few things in this life that could withstand a mother when her child was in danger.

* * *

Emiko Niwa descended on Hogwarts, and every male teacher in that school feared her wrath. Well, almost every male teacher. Remus was at least going to be spared since it was his lessons that had enabled her son to survive long enough for help to come.

To add to their fear, Emiko's rage was strengthened by the female teachers. Particularly McGonagall, Sprout and Madam Pomphrey.

"YOU BLOODY FOOL! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING, BRINGING THOSE THINGS ONTO THE SCHOOL GROUNDS? I OUGHT TO WRING THAT WRETCHED NECK OF YOURS!"roared Emiko.

With the backing of three of the teachers, there was little that Dumbledore could do, aside from taking the full brunt of Emiko's wrath.

Needless to say, the Slytherins were enjoying every minute of the show, and the Weaslys were all wincing at a rather passable imitation of their mother when she was pissed.

Once Emiko saw the condition of her son, she looked at Dumbledore with pure rage in her eyes. Dumbledore would have rather faced a female dragon that Emiko Niwa when she was being protective of her family. She terrified him!

It was only with a scant protest (and asking to at least say goodbye to their friends properly) that allowed Harry and Daisuke to stay even another night. They left Hogwarts three days early, after saying their goodbyes (and giving Draco directions to their house for later).

* * *

Riku looked up with surprise to find the Niwa cousins back early. Daisuke looked a little pale, which was unusual. Harry waved it off, claiming his cousin ate something that hadn't agreed with him back in England.

And slowly things returned to normal. Daisuke and Harry goofed off, or hanged out with their friends.

Of course there was the small matter of Harry somehow befriending the Ice Princess of Amazuno.

Sakura Hiwatari, the identical twin sister of Satoshi Hiwatari (the most popular boy in the class) was a loner by nature. Though it didn't help that the girl was ostracized by every other girl in her class. Riku at least tried to be nice to the girl, who had a lonely nature.

Even though her name was Sakura, everyone in class either called her Yuki (short for Yuki On'na or Snow Woman) or Koori (meaning 'ice' roughly).

The only real friend she had in the class before Harry showed up was her brother, who was even more of a loner than his sister.

Little was known about the Hiwatari twins, aside from the fact that their mother was killed in an accident when they were five and they didn't know who their birth father was.

Satoshi was a college graduate at age fourteen, and was currently the acting commander of the police force for reasons no could figure out. He had tons of fan girls and got a love note almost every morning, and not just from his own school.

Yuki was a lonely girl who read more than she talked. The girls all hated her because she was Satoshi's twin sister, yet she would never help them catch his attention. She was good at sports, though she had low blood pressure. She mostly hid in the art room or the library. Everyone would pair up with her under extreme protest.

It wasn't that Yuki didn't try to make friends. She did, originally try. But for reasons no one could remember, the girls drifted far from her and shunned her with a passion.

"Hello Sakura-chan!" said Harry cheerfully.

Sakura mumbled a hello, hiding her blush behind her large book. Harry Niwa was the only person in the class who every said good morning to her anymore. The only other person who did that was her brother, and even then he was usually too sleepy to do more than that.

She had a good idea why no one talked to her anymore. She fully blamed Krad.

Krad, when she was still in her mother's womb, had taken a large portion of her magic away. What was left was her elemental specialty which happened to be ice. Because most of her magic had been sealed away by the ancient spirit of her clan, he was unable to actually manifest properly in her.

Alas, the same couldn't be said of her brother, who got the full brunt of the family curse. At age four, Krad took hold of her brother. When they had just turned five, he killed their mother out of jealous rage.

They had childishly hoped their mysterious father would come back and take them in...only to have that dream dashed when Hiwatari stepped in and adopted the two of them.

Most people had wondered at the cold nature of their mother and the twins.

What they didn't know or realize was that their mother Rio Hikari had been part snow woman, on her mother's side. That power had skipped their mother and gone right into Sakura. Their father had been a European pure-blood who had dated Rio for a short time before his school went back into session. He had never come back.


	9. Chapter 9

Harry looked at the date with some glee. He was going to celebrate his fourteenth birthday, and not have to go back to England a few weeks later! Daisuke's birthday was a little over three months after his.

Harry ran down the stairs, dodging the traps with relative ease with his rather slim body. Though he did scowl when he saw the dogs at the bottom...and Sirius was with them.

"Dammit Sirius, why are you joining those dogs!" yelled Harry as he nimbly evaded their bites. Sirius barked in good humor.

Daisuke, woken up by the yelling, took the chance to run past his cousin to the kitchen.

Harry finally made it back to the kitchen, with Sirius nipping at his heels.

Harry glared at his godfather and said bluntly "Keep it up, you old hound, and I will give you a flea bath with one of Snape's potions that sting."

Sirius shifted back, and glared at his godson...before he messed up Harry's bedhead even more. Harry scowled.

He ate his breakfast quickly and practically ran to the train station.

* * *

When they reached the school, Harry was in such a good mood that he almost didn't notice the present in his desk.

It wasn't labeled, but he figured out who it was from easily enough from what it was.

It was a book on ice magic. In blue wrapping paper.

When Harry went to lunch on the roof (Daisuke had gone to eat with Takashi, mostly because the boy had dragged him away) Sakura was up there waiting. Her brother happened to be at school that day.

Takashi was rambling on what could be the event of the decade. Supposedly the town legend, Dark Mousy was going to make an appearance that night.

The detectives had thought it was a hoax, but played along with the note anyway.

Satoshi was rather quiet, though he had been interested in meeting Harry Niwa for some time. Particularly since he had become good friends with his sister.

Harry sat next to Sakura and thanked her with an honest smile for the book. What little he had read of it seemed very interesting. Sakura blushed, and Harry politely ignored it, to Satoshi's amusement.

So Harry changed the subject to something Satoshi could elaborate on easily.

The Phantom Thief Dark.

Satoshi proved to be an untapped well of information on the thief. When it was clear that Harry had no real love for the thief, he subtly relaxed.

Sakura felt a knot in her chest undo itself when she realized how well her brother got along with her only real friend. By the time lunch was over, Harry had befriended the Ice Prince of the school. And had gotten clearance behind the ropes if Dark ever showed up.

(To be fair, it was kind of hard to like the thief that much when he wouldn't shut up. Harry found Dark somewhat annoying, and if the spirit had a body he would have hexed him without losing any sleep over it.)

* * *

When Harry returned home, he flew through the obstacle course that his aunt set up, Daisuke right beside him. Sirius and his aunt were waiting with huge grins on their faces.

"Happy Birthday pup!" said Sirius.

Harry cheered up, and went into the dining room. His grin threatened to split his face in half as he read the banner above him.

_Happy 14th birthday Harry!_

Harry had a huge grin on his face as he opened up the presents. Emiko had told him to come directly home from school, though she refused to tell him why. His aunt gave him a new outfit, which strangely enough was slightly too big. He took it as a sign that he was going to hit a growth spurt fairly soon. His godfather gave him a brand new broom, which had him grinning in glee.

It was the newest Japanese broom, guaranteed to outstrip a Firebolt by absorbing the magic of it's rider and giving it a major speed boost. It had all of the same options as the Firebolt, with only a few things missing.

Daisuke's present made him smile of course. Since he was the only person who dared to befriend the Ice Princess, he had given his cousin a picture of the few times Sakura Hiwatari had accepted the cousin's offer of eating on the roof with them. Daisuke was a very talented painter.

Which was ironic, considering their family specialized in stealing masterpieces that had gained a conscience.

By the time he went up to do his homework for the day, he almost failed to notice the enlarged picture that had been left uncovered in his room.

Curious as to why there was a large picture of Sakura Hiwatari (it was clearly Daisuke's earlier attempt) he suddenly blinked when he felt...well feverish. Like he was burning up from the inside. He reached for the string that opened the window, and upon grasping it he fell to the floor. The window opened, letting in the summer breeze.

As the breeze washed through the room, he could feel a drastic change occurring in his body. His hair lengthened past his face, and his body shot out. His arms and legs were much longer than he remembered them ever being, and all the subtle signs that he had a rough childhood vanished. His upper body became more developed, and his eye color changed radically from a warm emerald to a startling amethyst color. Looking in the mirror he realized with shock that his raven black locks had turned a rather subtle purple color.

Once it was over, and he made sure that he wasn't imagining the change, he raced down the stairs in shock.

"Aunt Emiko, what's going on?" he asked.

Emiko surprised him further by glomping him in joy.

"I'm so proud of you Harry! You woke up to the full Niwa heritage!" she said grinning.

"What?"

"Harry sweetie, when a male of the Niwa bloodline turns fourteen, he awakens as Dark."

"So let me get this straight. All the strange things that have happened to me for the past two years...were because of Dark? The wings, the voice...everything?"

Daiki nodded.

Harry felt like swearing...then an idea occurred to him.

"Will it happen to Daisuke too?"

Emiko grinned wider and confirmed his suspicions. That actually cheered him up about the whole mess, for a good reason. At least now he wouldn't have to suffer this weirdness all alone. Suddenly the too big outfit Emiko had given him made sense.

Then he realized something else.

"Wait, how do I turn back?"

Daiki grinned.

"Dark's transformations are based on one thing only. The Sacred Maiden."

Sirius was outright grinning now. Daiki had explained this a week ago, and frankly the man found the whole situation hilarious. In order to turn back and forth from Dark, Harry had to find a girlfriend. One he actually liked, and who liked him back.

If Prongs were still alive, he would be on the ground laughing his ass off at the situation. It was rather funny, considering how shy Harry was around girls his own age.

"How am I supposed to get to the museum?" asked Harry.

"Put your hand on With's head."

Harry did as she told him, and was surprised to find the rabbit turning into pitch black wings.

* * *

Aside from having suffer his aunt's enthusiasm in turning him into a dress up doll, he made it to the museum on time. Since With was more used to keeping Dark in the air, Harry was actually well rested and enjoying the flight.

He winced when he saw the camera crews though. He hated the spotlight with a passion, and with good reason. Still, he landed a bit more gracefully than his cousin would have, and right side up.

He grinned as he disguised himself, glad to be out of the spotlight if for a moment. It didn't take long for him to set off real chaos among the cops.

The twins, with a lot of help from Remus and Daisuke, had started to come up with some magical/mundane prank combos. Which Harry gleefully threw into the mix.

His personal favorite was the mini flash bang, which was rather harmless and caused a lot of chaos when thrown.

It was basically a rock with enough gunpowder to set off the initial flash, and the charms to amplify the bang it produced did the rest.

Though it was recommended for medium sized to small rooms for the best effect, preferably the size of a Hogwarts classroom.

As the cops went about in confusion, he slipped into the crowd. And had them running to the entrance while hiding a grin. Dark might have been an expert thief, but he wasn't a match for the son of a notorious prankster!

He found the painting that had come to life, called the _Santa Marie_ which apparently had a lot of female saints. All he knew was that he had to find Dark a girlfriend to switch back.

(What Daiki didn't tell him was that usually the one who Dark fell in love with ended up becoming the Sacred Maiden to both of them.)

Before Harry could even more to turn off the alarms, he paused. Someone was in the room _with_ him. Someone who hadn't fallen prey to the minor prank he had let off.

He turned, and found Satoshi Hiwatari giving him a speculative look. And seeing his sky blue hair in the moonlight gave Harry an interesting idea.

He was going to turn Satoshi's hair neon pink before he left. Perhaps declare a prank war on the cops. He knew his aunt would probably get a kick out of it.

Before he knew it, Satoshi had him pinned. And in a manner he fully blamed on Sirius and the twins influence, he said "I didn't know you swung that way, _Commander_."

Satoshi turned red in the face. Harry knocked Satoshi off him, threw a hex to change his hair color, and ran for the window.

Satoshi had been attending magical classes as well, because he threw a hex right back at him.

He winced, and fell flat on the floor.

_Dammit. How am I supposed to undo this before he catches me?_

He heard a chuckle, and without warning lost all control of his body to Dark. The resulting wave of magic broke the hex, and Dark went running out the window, and With attached himself to the spirit.

_**Nice prank by the way. Think he'll get the idea?**_

_He will soon enough. Let's see how much of a prankster Satoshi is before Daisuke joins our little game._

Dark laughed, and flew into the night.

He was about to land outside the house when he saw her.

A girl with blue hair that shined in the moonlight. Her glasses were off, and she was moongazing while waiting for someone.

Harry cursed loudly when he realized that Dark had fallen for the girl, which resulted in With's transformation abruptly coming undone. He fell into the tree with the painting.

"Pup! What happened?"

"Dark found his crush and switched back is what happened!" snapped Harry.

* * *

Harry went in to class the next morning, and upon seeing Satoshi burst out laughing. His hair was still a bright pink, and there weren't any commercial dyes available to change it back. He could see Sakura snickering at her brother's predicament.

"What happened Satoshi? Did you get a prankster angry at you or something?"

Satoshi nearly growled at him.

It was Sakura who told him, amusement clear in her voice.

"Dark got him and the entire police for with some sort of dye. Everyone who was at the museum has pink hair that refuses to come out."

Harry made a show of looking closely at it, before saying "It should wear off in a few days."

Satoshi's scowl didn't drop in the least, though his sister certainly enjoyed teasing him.

Of course that had nothing on the news that greeted them by lunch.

"Everyone, we have two more transfers from England. Come in please."

Harry stared...and his jaw dropped in shock.

Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger had followed him to Japan. Hermione looked ecstatic to be there. Draco looked like he was trying not to scowl, but he cheered up when he recognized the prank Harry had played on Satoshi.

Hermione cheerfully sat next to Harry, while Draco sat behind Takashi. By the time they were released for lunch, Harry had dragged them, the Hiwatari twins, and his cousin to the roof for some peace.

"While I expected Draco to end up with us...when did you get here Hermione?"

"Last week. My parents were so distraught when they found out that Japan allows their magical students to continue their mundane education. So they moved us here, since your family happens to be here."

"I convinced my parents that it would be easier for me to survive in Japan if I was living in a magical household. I just didn't tell them that the only person who _had_ magic was a muggleborn," shrugged Draco.

"I guess this means I won't be the only one getting lessons in European pure-blood society," said Harry.

Draco made a face.

"Say what you will Hermione, but when you are interested in any subject you are worse than a dog on a bone."

"Anyone else heading our way?"

"Luna Lovegood, a third year Ravenclaw, transferred out to Japan too, though last I checked they put her in another class."

"Right, anyway this is Sakura and Satoshi Hiwatari. Though for some reason people keep calling her Yuki instead of Sakura..."

"They think it's funny to call me Yuki On'na," she said flatly.

Hermione gave Harry a look and he translated it for her.

"Remind me to have Aunt Emiko give you that translation charm..."

"So why does he have pink hair?"

"Phantom Dark hit him with a color changing hex, from what I can tell. Should wear off in a few days."

"I would ask why you haven't used the Finite Incantatum, but then again..."

"Everyone currently in this little group has magic, 'Mione."

She looked relieved, and soon had Satoshi chatting about his magical education. The second she learned he had already graduated _college_...well...Satoshi found himself with a more sensible fan girl.

Frankly Harry and the others found the whole thing hilarious, because he completely brought it on himself.

* * *

Once he got home, in a much better mood than usual, he found his Aunt's usual humor in full force.

He nearly fell right into the basement, if he hadn't caught himself first.

Daisuke shook his head, and once he saw the motion sensors he waited for Harry to go through first.

His cousin stumbled a few times, and when he paused outside the kitchen door (which wasn't electrified for once) he started yelling at Dark.

Daisuke did the smart thing and went around the back, snickering.

Sirius was at the table, laughing as he heard his godson yelling at a four hundred year old spirit for giving really crappy advice.

"Harry, you do know that he can hear your thoughts as well, right?" asked his aunt, thoroughly amused at the scene.

"Really...?" said Harry, gaining an evil smirk.

Without warning Dark manifested outside of Harry, wincing.

"**Right...I think I'll stay out here where it's safe..."**

Daisuke looked at the spirit with surprise.

"How did you...?"

"**He already awoke the bloodline, and his magic was strong enough for me to use it to come out. You really don't want to know the thoughts he kept sending my way..."**

Harry still had a Slytherin-like smirk as he looked at Dark and mentioned something that was obviously a torture instrument from the old days.

"Keep it up Dark, and I will put you on the Scavenger's Daughter..."

Dark winced. He had been around long enough to actually see that one happen.

"Okay, what the hell is a Scavenger's Daughter and why is someone like him wincing?" asked Sirius.

Harry smirked, went into his room and brought the man a book on medieval torture devices. He gave him the page and upon reading the paragraph, he looked at his godson with something akin to shock and horror.

"Why in the name of Hecate do you have this?"

"It was on sale and I was bored?" he said with a chirp. The more he read, the more interesting he found it.

When Daisuke saw the device, he winced.

"Who were you planning on using..._this_...on?"

"Dumbledore, who else?"

"Ah."

And nothing more was said of the matter.


	10. Chapter 10

Over the course of a week, things fell into a routine. Dark either appeared using Harry's magic or took over, and Satoshi learned that having someone like Hermione around wasn't nearly as bad as he originally thought.

Mostly because while she was a fan girl, she at least managed to keep her more irritating tendencies under control.

Harry actually got to enjoy the chaos from the sidelines, thanks mostly to the time turner.

He would go in and steal it, then after doing a quick calculation on how much time he had spent, used the time turner to return and join Satoshi.

He had no idea how much he had confused the boy with that trick.

* * *

"What's the matter brother?"

"I can't figure out who Dark is. I thought it was Harry Niwa, but every time there's a warning he always shows up to keep me company, even when Dark is in the room! And I know he's solid, because the last time I crashed into him I heard the thump."

"I wonder how he pulled that off. Even our records say that Dark can't have a body of his own for longer than an hour. Unless he uses magic to turn into a semi corporeal wraith."

"I would love to know how he does it too."

"So how are things with Hermione Granger?" asked Sakura, amused.

Satoshi blushed heavily. As loathe as he was to admit it, he was starting to develop feelings for her. Unlike the rest of his more...insane...fan girls, Hermione could actually keep up with him.

The main issue with that was if the feelings were shared, then Krad would take action. Even if she was a witch, she would get into trouble for fighting the spirit.

He envied his sister. She had been able to make friends with the foreign students faster than he had, and they accepted her usual mask without question. It was pretty obvious that Harry had a budding crush on her, though with his family things would get complicated very quickly.

* * *

"Hey Aunt Emiko, there's something that's been bugging me about Dark."

"What is it?"

"If I already have Dark up and about, then does that mean that when Daisuke wakes up we'll have to share him?"

Emiko shook her head. While it was unusual for there to be two Heirs to the clan magic, it had happened before.

"When Daisuke turns 14 Dark will have his soul split so there will be two. He'll shared information with his other half, but essentially you two will have different Darks. If I remember right, the second Dark will have red eyes instead of amethyst."

"Oh. Okay."

Harry went back upstairs to write the Weasly Twins. They had been begging for a picture of this Sakura and Satoshi Hiwatari.

He didn't have a picture of Sakura, but he had one of Satoshi for some reason.

"_Dear Gred and Forge,_

_Here's a copy of Satoshi's picture. The only thing I have of Sakura is one Daisuke painted and I am not handing that one over just yet._

_Sakura looks remarkably like Satoshi, but her hair is sapphire instead of sky blue. She wears both glasses and contacts, but according to the twins they mostly have them on to read. She usually wears her hair in a ponytail and tends to be like Hermione with her nose always in a book. _

_She had pierced ears which she usually has two sapphire drops hanging from. She also favors shorts rather than skirts, though sometimes it's easy to mistake her for her brother in the dark. Neither of the twins are morning people, and from what Satoshi has said they mostly don't eat breakfast. _

_He had alluded to something sealing most of his sister's magic up, but frankly if he hadn't said anything I wouldn't have been able to tell. She can perform most charms and spells rather easily, for someone with their magic sealed off._

_Both twins favor brighter colors, though only Satoshi wears crosses. Neither of them are saying why, because I know for a fact neither of them believe Western religions and are devout polytheists. Though Sakura tends to favor Inari while her brother favors Susanoo. I'm sure I gave one of you a book on the Shinto religion._

_Anyway, things are pretty hectic with Dark fully awake. I think I'm going to have an easier time than Daisuke when it comes to getting what Aunt Emiko and Grandpa keep calling my 'Sacred Maiden'._

_(In the words of Padfoot, it means I have to get a permanent girlfriend. Frankly I find that fact horrifying, since it means that chances are I'm stuck with Dark permanently.)_

_How are things back in England now that Draco and Hermione aren't there? Have Ron's grades dropped and the hexes gone down in the corridors, or is it still the same old same old?_

_From Harry."_

About a week later the twins owled back.

"_Dear Lord Prongslet_

_Things are hectic here even without you to bug. The World Cup got attacked by the remaining Death Eaters and someone played a rather tasteless prank on everyone by summoning the Mark of Voodletort._

_(You were right, it is easier to say that than He-who-must-not-be-named all the time.)_

_Dumbledore really set the snake in the lion's den by announcing a tournament that has had a really high death toll the last time it was around. _

_Other than that, things are pretty quiet. Oh, and Ron's grades have dropped so low that it's embarrassing to be related to him. Mum AND Percy have sent Howlers trying to get him back on track, but at this rate he's doomed to repeat fourth year._

_Even though we told him about the rule saying if he repeats it more than twice he'll be kicked out, he still didn't believe us. Apparently he never wondered why we always at least try to keep our grades up even with our pranking._

_Without Draco here to keep the peace, hexes have gone down but in their place people have been throwing punches instead. A Slytherin named Blaise Zabini has been trying to keep the house together but at this rate it will turn out to be all out war before you finally come back. If you come back._

_Send us some pranking ideas, so we can perpetuate the chaos._

_Love Gred and Forge, purveyors of mass chaos."_

Harry laughed at their signature.

So Draco had been keeping the peace without them knowing it? That was interesting. Then again, aside from teaching them about pure blood behavior he had mostly been hanging around Luna Lovegood from Ravenclaw.

Mostly because she was interesting put partly because she was the only pure blood female around. The last thing Draco wanted was his father learning he had fallen for a mundane girl.

(A little subtle checking revealed that neither of them had any common ancestors, which meant if they did pair up they wouldn't have any web toed children.)

It wasn't until Harry got another letter from the twins (promising pictures of the Durmstrang and Beauxbaton students) that he realized something.

"Aunt Emiko, what would happen if my name were to somehow be placed in this...Tri Wizard Tournament?"

She looked at him, thought back on how his previous years went and winced.

"Well even if they did have the name Harry Potter come out as a Champion, you wouldn't have to participate. The law I invoked is older than the Tournament, so it takes precedence. Anyway, they would have to spell your last name properly, since you changed it before you came back to Japan second year. Plus as your magical guardian and legal, I could state that since you are not currently a student of any school but Japan, the entry is invalid."

"So even if my name somehow came out I wouldn't have to deal with it?"

"No sweetie, you're staying here."

Harry brightened up, his mood decidedly cheerful about that. No death defying tests this year. All he had to deal with was learning how to survive in pure blood society and Dark's antics.

Compared to the last three years at Hogwarts, that would be cakewalk!

* * *

Much to the shock of the twins (but not Harry who had almost predicted it would happen) his name did in fact come out. But there was a problem.

It wasn't Harry Niwa who came out, it was Harry Potter. And since Harry had changed his name through the goblins, the entry was determined to be invalid. Of course Fred was trying to survive his mother's wrath, after the twins had followed on Harry's suggestion to ask one of their older teammates to add their names to the list.

Fred's name had come out of the Goblet of Fire.

* * *

Satoshi watched the other officers in amusement. Once Dark made it very clear that he was declaring an all out prank war on the cops (and by extension him) they had decided to...adjust the traps they had littered all over the museum.

Instead of cages, Dark found himself confronted with pranks. Which strangely enough, he found harder to get around. Quite a few times he had escaped with his hair in a rather...vibrant and girlish color.

Of course that didn't mean Satoshi didn't get in on the fun. Harry had discovered a random list that amused him so much he forwarded it to Satoshi.

Which prompted the scene before him.

Three weeks ago Satoshi used his magic to change the labels on the coffee grounds. He had been making the coffee for the others for a while, and no one suspected that something was wrong with their drinks.

Satoshi had switched it to Decaf.

And he was about to witness the results of his joke, since the coffee he had made earlier was espresso. Harry had loaned him his video camera, in exchange for watching later.

Everyone in the office went around like rabbits on crack. They were extremely jittery and jumpy. It was like they couldn't sit still.

Satoshi, the only person in the office to drink normal tea, was the only person who could sit normally for the rest of the week.

It took a while before the over caffienated cops to settle down, and by then he had switched the coffee back to their normal brand.

His sister found the whole thing hilarious.

* * *

"Hey Harry, why is that sometimes you space out in class?" asked Hermione.

"Because I am insane Hermione. I have voices in my head that won't shut up," said Harry honestly.

(**Honesty is the best policy, but Insanity is a better defense.**)

Harry suddenly grinned when Dark reminded him of another joke he had read while looking up stuff.

"Hey Hermione, I have a joke for you. One Draco will probably get a kick out of too."

"Lay it on me," she said, giving him a look.

"Knowledge is power...power corrupts...study hard and be _Evil._"

Draco couldn't help his cackle. Mostly because in Hermione's case that was probably true. She was such a bookworm that she could strike fear into any slacker alive!

"And I found a list of things that you'll absolutely love Draco. It's called I Owe My Mother."

"I think I've read that one. When I sent it to my Mother she actually cackled so much that my Father went into hiding from her out of fear," said Draco, snickering.

Daisuke sat down and came up with a quote he had found hilarious.

"Flying is easy. You just throw yourself at the ground and miss."

"Only for you two would that one qualify," said Hermione.

Satoshi walked up with his sister, who said "I've got ADD and Magic Markers. Oh the fun I will have."

Harry kept the jokes going as he looked at Draco and said "Christmas is canceled. Apparently someone told Santa you had been good this year and he died laughing."

"You don't have to be faster than the angry Centaur, you have to be faster than the slowest guy _running_ from the angry Centaur," said Draco.

"Nobody is perfect. I am nobody. Therefore I am perfect!" quipped Sakura.

"I'm hearing voices in my head and they don't like you," said Satoshi suddenly. Sakura about bust a gut laughing, because it was probably true.

"Someday my Prince will come. He just took a wrong turn, got lost and is too stubborn to ask for directions," said Hermione.

Sakura and Hermione snickered at her quote. Satoshi was nothing if not stubborn.

"So what are we going to do for Halloween?" asked Draco.

"Well I don't know about you but I have no plans to go out dressed as some anime character," said Satoshi flatly.

"My parents hate Halloween, because of all the sugary sweets that get handed out," admitted Hermione.

"Mine could care less, and if I was at home I'd be going to some boring pure blood party with people I barely tolerate," said Draco.

"My other Aunt would lock me in my room while they let Dudley out trick or treating...which meant he bullied the other kids for their candy and never shared any of it," said Harry sourly.

"Mom used to let me go out with Takashi and the twins, but then she had me handing out candy," said Daisuke.

Which left Sakura.

"I usually stayed at home reading, unless someone came for candy. Since it was popular opinion that I am a Snow Woman, I usually dressed up as one and dropped snow on the heads of the other children," she shrugged.

Satoshi snickered.

"Remember when you did that to Risa and Riku, and they actually started swearing in front of their mother?"

Sakura laughed.

"I didn't expect their mom to spank them right in front of us," she chuckled.

* * *

Harry was finishing his magical homework for the night, when he happened to see something odd.

It was a picture of Sirius at his parent's wedding. While normally that wouldn't be odd, he happened to have a picture of the Hiwatari twins helping him with a prank right next to the album.

What bothered him was the fact that the twins and Sirius looked remarkably alike. In several ways.

They all had sapphire blue eyes, the same nose, same chin. About the only real difference was the hair color, but that could be blamed on their mother.

The more he compared them, the more he saw a resemblance. They were almost too similar. Satoshi would have looked like a carbon copy of Sirius except for the hair and serious attitude.

Which set him asking Sirius if he had ever been to Japan before.

Sirius scrunched up his face, as he thought about that question. Had he ever been to Japan before?

Then a light came to his eyes.

"I have been here before, but it was in Hokkaido. James got me to go on vacation right before he married Lily. It turned out to be one hell of a bachelor party and it lasted for an entire week. Lily wasn't too happy with me because I never said goodbye to the girl had dated with while I was here."

Harry pressed him for details, honestly interested. The most Sirius remembered was the girl, rather than the vacation itself. She was a Japanese pure blood from a really old line. She always seemed to be hiding something, but he had never stayed around to find out what. She had a major grudge against her parents though, to his amusement.

"What was her name?"

"Hikari...I think. I only remembered her last name because she happened to mention it was Japanese for Light."

Which would have gotten Harry to drop the idea he had...except that he knew for a fact the twins had been adopted when they were five. Satoshi never told him what their birth name was though.

"Anyway, don't you have a theft to get ready for?" he said, messing up his hair even more.

Sirius had no problem with the fact that the Niwa clan was a long line of thieves. Especially when Emiko explained that they were only doing it because the art pieces that came to life caused too much trouble.

Harry grimaced, as he hated listening to Dark's crappy advice. He still went to his aunt so he could see what she picked out.

(After the first few times of being turned into a large dress up doll, Harry decided to just stay out of her way when it came to the outfits. It was safer for his sanity.)

This time he was just going to stay home. The Time Turner gave him a headache whenever he used it. He couldn't see how Daisuke had used it almost daily for nearly nine months.

Once he let Dark take over, they went to the roof and took off. Dark usually let his partner use his magic to prank the cops, who bore it with good humor.

While the cops clearly didn't know how to handle Dark (let alone how they planned to keep him in jail if they ever caught him) they could handle pranking him back. Every time they successfully got him with a prank, their moral went up.

Satoshi and Sakura's stepdad couldn't believe he was dealing with a prankster Dark. And that his men actually retaliated with pranks of their own.

He had unsuccessfully tried to get them to stop. Alas, Satoshi rather enjoyed the prank war, because he often helped plan the next prank.


	11. Chapter 11

Sakura was alone on the roof with Harry, because everyone else had decided to lock them up there. Even Takashi and the Harada twins helped out. It was apparent that the two actually liked each other, so their classmates decided to do something about it.

At that point, when he realized he had been locked on the roof with the girl he had a major crush on, Harry began to blush heavily. Sakura wasn't much better.

"So what are we going to do until they let us down?" asked Sakura finally.

Harry sat down and conjured a deck of Western playing cards. He had gotten rather good at conjuring simple things without a wand.

"How does Rummy sound?"

"Fine by me."

About halfway into their fourth game, Harry finally asked something that had been bothering him.

"Sakura, what do you know about your birth father?"

She shrugged.

"All we know from what our mom told us was that he was from Europe and that we got his eyes. Oh, and he always had her laughing with his mischievous pranks. I think Satoshi has been channeling him since Dark came back."

Harry played four queens. And then he took out his wallet. Inside were a few pictures of him, his friends, and his family. Like the one of Sirius getting hit with a pigment potion that turned his black hair bright blue for a week. He had gotten them back with a potion that made them speak pig Latin for an hour.

He handed Sakura his copy of that prank, and her eyes widened when she saw the hair.

"We nailed my godfather with a prank that turned his hair neon blue."

"A few shades lighter and he could be an older Satoshi," she said.

"I noticed that too. And he has the same color eyes as you two."

"Has he ever been to Japan?"

"I asked, and he apparently came here for a week with my dad and hooked up briefly with someone named Hikari."

Sakura hid her surprise.

"Do you have a copy of this picture?"

"I can get you one. It's not that hard to make a double of something."

Harry waved his hand over the picture, and a perfect copy of it was now in Sakura's hands.

About thirty minutes later they were finally let back down, though Sakura easily beat Harry at their game. He had managed to hold his own though.

* * *

"Satoshi, you're not going to believe this...but I think Harry's Uncle Sirius is our dad."

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

She showed him the picture, explaining about the prank Harry had played on the man. The more Satoshi looked at it, the more he could see a faint resemblance. But the likelihood of Sirius Black being their birth father was slim.

At least until Sakura dropped the real bombshell about the name of the girl Sirius had hooked up with in Hokkaido.

Their mother had lived in Hokkaido for three years but had moved back when she had them.

"Sakura, think about it. The chances that Sirius Black is our real father are astronomical."

"But there's still a possiblity. You had better think twice if you think I don't see what Hiwatari puts you through to get to Krad."

Satoshi scowled. Hiwatari had been a decent man...once. But ever since Krad had started to wake up, he had changed. Something had turned a decent man into a power hungry fool bent on using a four hundred year old spirit to his own ends.

It was only because Sakura didn't have enough magic to support Krad that she had been spared. While Satoshi wasn't happy about the fact that Krad had taken a good portion of her magic, he had never actually complained about it.

"We don't have any way to prove it without a DNA sample," said Satoshi finally.

Sakura's face fell. The only way they could pull that off was by asking Sirius, and since they had no idea where he lived, it wasn't possible.

* * *

"So it's possible that Sirius is really your dad?" asked Harry.

"Mom lived in Hokkaido for three years and moved back when we were born. Like I told Sakura, it's possible but unlikely."

"Why not? Sirius would probably be thrilled to have kids, even ones as...well, Sirius as you two."

His group groaned at the joke.

"Harry that is a terrible pun," said Hermione flatly.

"I know, but I can't help it. That idiot hound makes them all the time," said Harry with a straight face.

(Elsewhere Sirius sneezed three times.)

"How will we prove it?" asked Satoshi, bringing up his earlier argument.

Harry and Daisuke shared a look.

"He lives across the street from us, and helps Aunt Emiko/Mom set up the traps," they said in unison.

"Dark hasn't sent any notices today, so I'm free," said Satoshi.

"I have nothing better to do. I'll bring a camera just in case too."

"I'll bring the video recorder," said Harry promptly.

* * *

Sirius wasn't surprised to see Harry and Daisuke at his new house across the street, they often came with Draco so he could explain pure blood society in more detail. While he hated his parents and the society he had left behind, he still remembered the rules.

But when he laid eyes on Satoshi and Sakura Hiwatari, his eyes nearly came out in shock.

Harry snickered.

"Hey Sirius, these are the Hiwatari twins."

Satoshi gave him a suspicious look, but then again he had been in Europe at the time Sirius broke out of Azkaban. It was only because of his sister that he was a far along in his magical education as he was.

"Who on earth mothered you to death?" he asked bluntly.

Sirius, when he got over seeing the twins who looked a little too much like him, laughed.

"Emiko Niwa is not a woman you should ever cross lightly. Especially when it comes to her family," he grinned.

Daisuke and Harry snorted.

"She nearly ripped Dumbledore a new one when she heard about the near miss with the dementors last year," said Harry.

"Anyway what brings you guys and gal (he added that last bit for Sakura who beamed at him) here? Draco's lesson isn't till tomorrow."

"Well it's rather interesting really. It seems that Satoshi and Sakura's mum lived in Hokkaido for three years. Roughly during the time you happened to be there with my dad," said Harry smoothly.

Sirius looked at the twins, then at Harry, seeing what he was getting at. And he knew of several ways to verify it.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. Trust his godson to find his kids and befriend them.

"Right, so you guys need some of my DNA to test it?"

Harry beamed at him.

Sirius lead them into his small potions lab. He didn't like to brew potions, they made his hair oily, but he was passable at it. It was there that he had his fireplace specifically for the Floo.

"The goblins can test it for us. I'm no where near good enough to do a blood test."

Satoshi had never used the floo before, but his sister had. Their mother had an account at the Japanese branch of Gringotts, and she used the one at the school to access their vault.

"I'll hold onto you if you want brother."

Satoshi trusted his sister. He didn't know how to deal with floo travel, and found the idea of stepping into flames ridiculous.

He had to sit down due to the dizziness he felt. He officially hated traveling by floo. Harry was in a similar state.

"I hate the floo. I hate port keys."

"Agreed," said Satoshi. He had used a port key a few times, and he still hated it. He only took it when he couldn't afford the plane ticket.

An hour later, Sirius had fainted from shock.

Satoshi and Sakura were in fact his children. Which he had no idea he had. Sakura and Harry were taking several pictures of his reaction.

When he finally came to, he looked at Satoshi with disbelief.

"Well at least we know why you never came for us after our mother died," said Satoshi.

"I was in Azkaban by that time, and I didn't know she had twins."

"So does that mean they'll come live with you?" asked Daisuke.

Sirius shook his head.

"Even if I had a big enough house in Japan, it would be too awkward. How about we hang out every once in a while and get to know each other better first?"

Satoshi thought that was a sound idea. While Sakura might have liked living with their actual father, the chances of Krad killing him were rather high. Plus the fact he lived on the same street as the Niwa family was just begging for trouble he didn't want.

Fortunately Satoshi and Sakura were still considered the Black Heirs, despite Sirius all but adopting Harry.

When Harry had asked what he meant, Sirius told him and the twins.

"Back when you were born, I filed paperwork to make you my heir. For some reason, it was blocked and never went through. When I got sent to Azkaban, the paperwork I filled out was either cast aside or lost, and no one ever found it. I guess the goblins knew about Satoshi and Sakura here."

Sakura blinked.

"I guess it's a good thing that I went to Draco's lesson with Harry then."

Sakura kept her brother up to date on the magical half of their education while Satoshi focused on the mundane. It was a system they had worked out years ago, which was why they were at the top of their classes.

"Once my innocence is proven once and for all, you'll be introduced to the pure blood society."

"We already have, or I have at any rate. Hiwatari made sure that we were at least properly introduced, but since our mother was dead no one ever pressured us to join all the high society functions," said Sakura.

Sirius looked relieved...at least until Sakura and Satoshi gave him a look he recognized all too well.

"Don't look at me like that! If you think I'm stupid enough to try and arrange marriages for you two, then you have another thing coming! I hated the people my parents tried to force me with, and I won't put my own children through the same hell I went through."

_Besides, if things keep progressing like the have for the past few months, it's likely Prongslet and Sakura will end up together anyway. And Satoshi is a better match for Hermione than Ron..._ thought Sirius.

* * *

It was almost November, and the family was buzzing with activity. Daisuke's fourteenth birthday was the tenth. They had less than two weeks before his half of Dark's spirit came out.

Not that Daisuke was fully aware of what he was in for. He kept bugging Harry for details, since all he knew was that Dark always appeared in the Niwa family when the boys turned fourteen.

All Harry would tell him was that when he went upstairs he should stick close to the window. He still remembered the fire that went through him when Dark originally manifested.

And then...the day came. Aside from the ritual they performed every other morning to renew the sealing magics (it involved robes, to Harry's amusement, and they all gathered in the basement where the ceremonial fires were located) and Daisuke almost forgetting his love letter to Risa, not much occurred.

After seeing all the trouble his cousin had with Dark, Daisuke was determined to at least get the ball rolling before the spirit made things too awkward.

There was one catch he didn't expect though.

Risa had little to no interest in him as anything other than a friend. Harry stayed behind, and tried not to show any emotions as his cousin got shot down, hard.

At least he didn't embarrass himself too much with his love letter.

Harry clapped his cousin on the shoulder.

"Cheer up Dai, it's not like it's the end of the world. Just means you'll have to work harder to catch her eye," said Harry.

Daisuke groaned in horror.

And somehow, someway, Takashi managed to push his chores on Daisuke. Harry went ahead to prepare the birthday dinner with Emiko, so Daisuke was practically alone.

* * *

"Right, so where's that picture of Risa I caught him painting last week?" asked Harry.

"Third closet on the left. Make sure the picture is exposed," said Emiko from the kitchen.

"Like you guys did to me? If it wasn't for the reaction he's going to have from the transformation, I would pity him. I'll go get my camera from Sirius before Dai comes home."

"Take as many pictures as you want sweetie!" said Emiko cheerfully.

It was Daisuke's turn to awaken, and she was excited!

Harry paused when he heard his cousin come in, and grinned. This was going to be fun, because Daisuke was so much fun to tease!

Daisuke flew through the course and got into the kitchen in less than two minutes. He beat his previous record by ten seconds.

"Congrats Daisuke!" said Harry.

Daisuke was still down about the rejection, because he went right into his room.

"How long did I take?"

"About a minute or two."

Harry aimed his camera as his video recorder was aimed at just the right angle to capture Daisuke's freaked out run down the stairs. He snapped pictures like crazy, because the look on his cousin's face was hysterical!

"Mom, what just happened?"

"You awakened itoko. Now you see why I couldn't say anything," said Harry, grinning.

"You didn't say it would happen that fast!"

"No one bothered to tell me, so deal!"

"Now boys, do try to remember that we have a job to do."

"It's Daisuke's turn to get the item. I claim a day off," said Harry.

Daisuke wasn't as enthusiastic over the family tradition as his cousin. Then again, he was the only person in the family who took up painting as a hobby.

* * *

There was one good thing about Harry awakening to the family magic early. Daisuke already knew what he needed to do. But he still wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Daisuke flew above the museum, like he was supposed to. While he was good a flying, his landings needed work. He crashed into a nearby tree...which had With giving him a dark look.

"Gomen With. I'm not used to using your wings to fly."

"Kyuu..."

He caused a little chaos, and broke in. only to discover a downside to having Harry become Dark first.

Instead of the traps he was used to dealing with, he kept getting hit with pranks. Only Satoshi realized the problem though.

_Either Dark has a brother or we have an imposter. Normally he gets around the more childish pranks..._

Daisuke made it to the statue, and was about to open the security case.

Satoshi appeared behind him, highly amused at the number of bright ribbons and off color hair.

"You seem off your game today Dark."

"_Oh, I'm not off my game. He's just a rookie_,"announced a voice from behind.

Satoshi blinked twice. Why were there two Darks?

"_Then again, he's still getting used to his wings. I mean really Otouto, crashing into that tree?"_ said Dark amused.

Daisuke glared. It wasn't his fault that he had trouble flying.

"Why did I keep getting hit with pranks on the way here? What happened to the traps?" he countered.

Dark laughed, grinning the entire time.

"_Apparently my new partner has a bigger sense of humor compared to the last ones. He started an all out prank war with the cops."_

Daisuke did his job and grabbed the statue while Dark was dealing with Satoshi.

He managed not to break the statue when he tripped on the ribbons.

Finally he went out the window, With grabbing onto his back. Dark stayed to keep Satoshi busy until he vanished.

* * *

As Daisuke flew over the town, something happened. He had only paused for a moment, trying to catch his breath...when he was spotted.

It was Riku Harada. He did the first thing he could think of to keep her from screaming.

The next thing he knew, he was in the water duct, and he had returned to being Daisuke.

"What just happened?"

Dark was laughing at him, hard.

_**'You overbalanced on that ledge and fell on your ass is what happened. Looks like you found the secondary trigger to reverse the transformation,'**_said Dark, snickering.

"Secondary?"

"_**One twin to turn you into me, and the other to reverse it. Have fun walking!"**_

"Like hell am I walking home with this heavy statue! I'm flying home!" growled Daisuke. The last thing he needed was to get caught with the stolen art piece because he had to walk.

Now that his blood had awakened, he found his wings much easier to summon. And less painful. His landing was much easier than before.


	12. Chapter 12

Since Daisuke awakened, things steadily turned more interesting for the Hiwatari twins. Every time Daisuke had to steal, Harry would go out with Sakura. Since he honestly had no issues with Krad (who reminded him painfully of Snape, only in a really foul mood) the two managed to keep up with the other.

Satoshi had no problems with Harry dating his sister. Even if he did have Dark inside of him.

(Harry had successfully found a way to keep Dark from manifesting while on a date. All those years with the Dursleys had finally come in handy, though he would hex himself before admitting that fact out loud.)

Daisuke, on the other hand, kept having hit-and-miss problems with Risa. Either Dark took over or he completely embarrassed himself in front of her.

December rolled around, and things had finally settled into a new pattern. There was only one tiny catch.

A new painting had been donated to the museum, and for once it wasn't created by the Hikari clan. It was somewhat creepy, but people couldn't help but come to see it.

It was titled _Hell's Messenger_.

Sakura, for reasons she never fully understood, kept coming to see the painting. She found it rather fascinating.

The painting was of a girl in a traditional Japanese kimono in black. The patterns were of multicolored butterflies, and if you stared at it long enough they seemed to move on their own. The girl had long black hair, and blood red eyes. On her wrist was a small bracelet with a pair of bells. Her eyes seemed to see right through you.

Satoshi was worried about his sister's fascination with the painting. Even more so because of the fact that he could feel something in it.

But since nothing had actually happened, he reluctantly let it go.

* * *

Harry was planning on taking Sakura to the Winter Solstice festival at the temple. Emiko and Sirius had already given him their blessings, so all he needed to do was pick up his girlfriend. He even had a new kimono to wear.

(So did Draco and Hermione. Sirius had been in such a festive mood that he helped them buy traditional Japanese kimonos to wear to the festival. Draco had a dragon kimono while Hermione wore a butterfly print.)

Harry tried not to gape when he saw Sakura waiting for him. Satoshi had gone on ahead with Hermione.

Sakura was wearing a midnight blue kimono with cherry blossoms. Her hair was done up in a traditional bun, and held in place by a hair pin Satoshi had bought her for her birthday. In her ears were a pair of gold bells, and she had a snowflake necklace on.

"Sorry I'm late," he finally managed to get out.

Sakura smiled at him, and he felt his heart flutter a bit. Dark was snoring, so it was unlikely he would wake up before they got to the temple.

He held out his arm.

"Shall we go, Hime-chan?"

She raised an eyebrow at the nickname.

"Hime?"

"Well in that outfit you look more like a princess than anything, so..."

She grinned at him, and accepted his arm. The two walked to the temple in companionable silence.

"Have you been to see the new painting?"

"_Hell's Messenger_? I found it fascinating."

"My brother seems to think I spend too much time around it. I swear though, if you watch the butterflies on the kimono they start to move."

"They do. I've been getting the weird sense that there's magic in it, but every time I try to investigate it vanishes," said Harry.

"Same with my brother. It's like the painting _knows_ when someone is trying to look at it too closely."

The two had a great deal of fun at the festival, even running into Satoshi and Hermione. Draco shocked everyone by inviting Luna Lovegood out to the festival.

Harry had to laugh at the pattern in her kimono. He didn't know they made platypus ones.

(They don't. Luna used a charm to change it from the moon pattern that her father had found.)

Everything was going great...which was why Harry was somewhat uneasy. Things were too perfect. He had the sneaking suspicion something big was going to happen, and soon.

He wasn't wrong.

Sakura had noted that the torii gates were looking odd. They seemed to have a strange glow about them tonight. Determined not to let it ruin her evening, she decided to ignore it all together.

When she went alone to the bathroom, something flew out of the gates...and into her body! Five minutes later she was awake, and wondering where Harry was. She didn't realize she had passed out until much later.

Sakura was driving Satoshi crazy while she was stuck in bed with a fever. She was not the best of patients.

If she had to suffer, _everyone_ had to suffer.

On the plus side, Satoshi no longer had to worry about the effects _Hell's Messenger_ had on his sister. It had been moved to another museum in Germany.

He didn't know that the damage had already been done.

Harry at least, was being a good sport about his girlfriend being sick in bed. He visited every day with their homework and usually brought snacks and books to keep her happy. Satoshi quickly learned to look forward to Harry showing up, because it was the only time he could get any peace.

* * *

A few days after the new year, Sakura was back on her feet...and was already starting to notice her new guest.

Dark was out stealing another statue...and Krad had shown up. Sakura had learned a long time ago how to help Satoshi deal with the cranky spirit.

Whenever Krad took over, she took the pain of the transformation from her brother.

She watched the battle in silence. Her boyfriend was fighting her brother, and she could do nothing about it. Suddenly a blast of magical energy was heading her way. Dark, when he realized where the blast was going, tried to intercept it before it hit her.

Sakura watched wide eyed when she realized he wasn't going to make it in time.

Right before the blast hit her, she heard the back of her shirt ripping a bit. Black butterfly wings enveloped her, taking the blast without damage. Sakura lost consciousness, and woke up two hours later in her brother's arms. She was back in her home.

"What...what happened?"

Satoshi looked at his sister in shock.

"Are you alright?"

"What happened?"

His face was still in silent shock.

"Remember that painting, the one that worried me because you were so fascinated by it?"

"_Hell's Messenger_? What about it?"

"I think...you somehow absorbed the soul that was inside that painting..." said Satoshi.

"What?!"

Satoshi looked at her square in the eye.

"When that blast hit you, you were covered in black emperor butterfly wings, and when they came off you weren't standing there. The girl in the painting was...and she was pissed at Krad for nearly hitting you. I've never seen Dark laugh so hard while Krad got his ass kicked by a girl."

"Wait...so I've..."

"You now have a false spirit in you...same as me. Only I haven't seen any evidence of the girl trying to take control by force."

"I was barely aware that she was in me until now," said Sakura in shock.

* * *

For the next few weeks, Sakura learned to talk with the spirit inside of her. The first thing she learned was that unlike Krad and Dark, she had actually lived...right around the time the other two were made.

Ai was just as surprised as Sakura to have ended up in her body. Apparently she had been hoping for a break after giving up her position as Hell Girl.

Sakura had heard of the Hell Link, but had never been tempted to look it up. She had no reason to.

Besides, Hiwatari had yet to piss her off to the extent that she would be able to even access it.

(Rumor had it that only those with enough hate or anger towards someone would even be able to get on the site at the stroke of midnight.)

For the next few weeks, Sakura learned how to access Ai's power...and found an unexpected side effect of gaining her as a secondary spirit.

Two months after Ai first manifested in her, Sakura noted strange people coming into their town.

Ren Ichimoto, the newest member of the Dark Task Force. Wanyuudo, the new school gardener. Sone Anna, the new English teacher. All of them had abruptly shown up within months of Ai's appearance.

And it wasn't just Sakura who noted their sudden arrival. Satoshi, Harry and Daisuke all noticed that they weren't normal. Though it took Sakura to finally ask who they were.

Sone-sensei was rather surprised when Sakura stayed after school to ask her why she was there.

"What makes you ask such an odd question?" she asked nervously.

Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"Our current English teacher's name is Hiroto Asegawa, and he abruptly decides to take a sabbatical halfway through the year? I don't think so. And that gardener wasn't there three months ago."

Sone Anna looks at her in shock.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I happen to be a member of the gardening club, and it's _our_ job to take care of all the plants around school. We don't _have_ a gardener full time."

She looked at her in disbelief. Then she saw something past the girl before her, and realizes why the girl even noticed something was off.

"You have the spirit of Ojou, don't you."

"Who?"

"Enma Ai."

"Wait...how the hell do you know that name?" asked Sakura in shock.

"Ren, Wanyuudo and I used to serve her back when she was Hell Girl. We thought we lost her...but recently we felt her presence in this town and came to investigate."

"I take it that you all have the ability to blend in by taking human form?" said Sakura, pinching the bridge of her nose. It was a habit her brother had sometimes when he felt a headache coming on.

Sone Anna nodded.

"Look, I don't care if you guys show up as long as you don't cause any problems. But if I find out you have joined the prank war with Dark and the task force, I will be annoyed."

"Prank war?"

"You came here and didn't look up the town you were coming to? Since his reawakening, Dark has declared an all out prank war with the cops. So far he's winning."

"I've never heard of Dark. We only came because of Ai."

"Not my problem. Just don't cause any trouble and I won't send Krad after you three."

* * *

After the confrontation, Sakura noted slight changes in the people around her. It was almost impossible to notice, but she did.

She started to see the auras in the people around her. And was shocked to see so much negative energy in her class. Ai was very good at teaching Sakura to read auras.

Black meant negative, like anger, hatred and despair. Red meant fury and bloodlust. Green meant poison, sickness, and injury. Blue meant sadness, betrayal, and pain. White meant healing and recovery. Yellow meant happiness, relief, and joy. Orange meant lust, greed, and pride. Purple was a class all of it's own, and Sakura blushed every time she saw it.

Purple meant attraction in every shape and form.

Ai had already warned her that her presence meant that negative energies would pool into the town and begin to fester in the auras of people around her. The more stressful the situation, the stronger the negative energy became.

It was a side effect of being the Hell Girl. She had wiped out entire towns within weeks because of that power.

The only good news was that the website had yet to come back. And Sakura was determined to keep it down. She had discovered quite by accident that in order for the website to activate, the dark saturation had to reach a certain level.

And by exercising Ai's power every night, learning to gain control of it and using it up, the negative energy remained at an all time low. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it would work until she found a place that didn't have access to computers.

* * *

Harry was looking forward to the class trip. It was the first time he had every gone on one and didn't have to worry about Dudley harassing him.

(Back when he was in primary school, the teachers had pooled their money to let him go on class trips. The problem was that as soon as he got home, his uncle would beat the living hell out of him, thinking that Harry had stolen money in order to go.)

His aunt had an assignment for the two of them.

The resort where they were staying was right next to an art piece called the Eternal Guide.

He had been paired with Daisuke, so they might actually get to have some fun during the trip.

He should have known that he would never have a normal class trip.

The night Daisuke went to steal the piece, Satoshi was waiting for him. In his hand was a mirror...and it was linked to the earring Daisuke had stolen a few days before the trip. Harry watched in absolute horror as the second Dark was taken into the mirror, effectively cutting Daisuke's magical power in half. Harry had noted with some interest that a good portion of the Niwa Clan magic was influenced by Dark's constant presence in the males. The longer Dark stayed in the male's body, the higher their magical potential shot up.

Daichi had given Harry a rough estimate of how long he had been 'possessed' by Dark, and his reserves were well above the average European wizard.

He had yet to confirm if the same was true for the Hikari twins though.

As soon as Dark was sealed in the mirror, Krad took the chance and came out.

Sakura was still in her room, trying to avoid Takeshi and his stupid Mah Jong tournament he cooked up. She was too far away to actually help at the moment.

Harry jumped off the lighthouse to retrieve the mirror that Krad threw over...and realized a little _too_ late that he didn't know how to swim. The Niwa clan thought he knew, but they never asked why he never took any thefts that involved water too deep to stand up in.

As a result, he felt sheer blind panic as air left his body at an alarming rate. His Dark had inadvertently been sealed with the one that resided in Daisuke, so he couldn't help either.

Just as he was about to black out, he felt someone or something grab his hand and pull him to the surface.

He passed out, but not before getting a semi-conscious look at the face of his rescuer.

It was Krad. Not Satoshi, as he would have expected if he had remained awake, but Krad.


	13. Chapter 13

Ai stared at Krad in surprise. When Satoshi told his sister about the fact that Krad had actually _saved _Harry, she had been surprised.

"_What are you staring at girl?"_ demanded the blond.

"Nothing, it's just odd."

"_What?"_

"I thought you hated Dark and his tamers. Why did you save Harry?" asked Ai.

"_It wasn't out of any love for the brat. I did it to be free of these wretched tamers."_

"Huh?"

Krad sighed. Ai was still new to this game that he had Dark had played for centuries. Still, he didn't mind the girl's presence. She had been around as long as they had, and her job was much worse.

"_Tell me, what do you know of the Hikari and Niwa magics?"_

"The Hikari specialized in creation and art based magics. The Niwa specialized in stealth, sealing and binding. Both shared the flight and fight magic, though it depended on the user's ability to handle pain."

"_Correct, but are you aware WHY this feud has been going on for the better part of four centuries?"_

"No, but I would assume it was human nature. Though I do wonder why they have yet to bridge the gap until recently."

"_It's because they fear what would happen should a Niwa male marry a Hikari female."_

"What?"

"_Should the two families marry, and the couple bear children, both spirits would be freed from the mirror. As their so called greatest work of art, the Hikari feared the consequences. There _had_ been one attempt to merge the two families, but the woman was killed before the children could be born. And the children were murdered before they even had a chance. It was a pair of twins."_

Ai absorbed that information. She was nothing if not clever. An art piece that would be free from human hands that had split souls. A previous attempt at merging failed because of fear, and the mother murdered before the children could be born. The children in question were twins. There was only one thing to confirm.

"Were both twins boys?" she asked.

"_Yes."_

Ai looked at Krad hard. She could see where this was going, and most likely so had the Hikari when they learned of the twins impending birth.

"I take it that should a Niwa and Hikari have children, the results would be twin boys?" she asked.

"_Yes. Especially if they are from the main branch, which Satoshi, Sakura and the Niwa cousins are."_

"I see what your real reason is. If the Niwa and Hikari are merged through Harry and Sakura, then the two of you would be freed and given your own bodies instead of possessing them. I wonder what would have happened to me then?"

"_I suppose that should the two have children and we are given our own bodies, it would also happen to you. You were, after all, transferred to Sakura through a painting and her magic would naturally give birth to the souls of art pieces."_

"I wasn't transferred into her by a painting. That was only to find a viable host. The gates near the shrine had a connection to hell, and that's where I came through."

"_Still, the fact that your soul was tied to an art piece at some point is enough that you could be given your own body like us. Plus you _are_ possessing her, so the chances skyrocket."_

"So what will happen should the boys be unable to find Dark in time?"

"_Highly unlikely. If nothing else, their natural magic would drag him out anyway unless the mirror breaks. I mostly allowed Satoshi to do that to piss him off."_

"You like him, don't you?"

"_Hardly. We're like brothers, so we get on each other's nerves. It just so happens that his flamboyant and flirtatious personality annoys me greatly."_

"Whereas you are a cranky person who hates people and tries to kill tamers the first chance you get," said Ai dryly.

"_You would be cranky too if you had to deal with these brats going through puberty and having to listen to them talk about their crushes. It's annoying as hell! I'm a four hundred year old spirit, for crying out loud! What do _I_ care about your silly crushes!"_

Ai snickered, though it was a valid point.

"And yet you want a body of your own, which will happen to be an infant, and you will most likely go through it yourself," she pointed out.

"_I would rather _deal _with it than have to listen to their blathering!"_ said Krad.

"I wonder why Dark never complains about that?" she mused.

"_Because by the time he wakes up in the boys, they are already being prepared. Besides, they don't talk as much as the girls,"_ said Krad sourly.

Ai laughed hard at that, something she had been doing often thanks to her new container. Sakura was interesting, to say the least, and the two came up with the most amusing pranks.

* * *

Dark was bored out of his damn mind.

_Krad just _had_ to bring out a damn mirror seal..._ he thought sourly. And to make matters worse, he saw Harry fall into the ocean to catch the bloody mirror.

Dark knew full well that his older tamer didn't know how to swim. Because he had been inside Harry for all these years, he knew everything about him.

He dreaded to think what would happen if _Krad_ had been the one sealed inside him.

The Dursley family would have been murdered by the time Harry was six at the least. Krad did _not_ like abusive families, despite how he treated his tamers. At least he made up for it by protecting them in bad situations, not that most knew it. In fact, from what he heard from his brother, Krad's main reason for being so rough with Satoshi was because he despised Hiwatari for using the twins.

If he had his way, the bastard would be dead by sunset and the twins would be living with Sirius.

Too bad he couldn't access his private dimension from the mirror. He had a ton of manga he could read to kill time.

(About seventy five years ago, Dark discovered that they could have their own private realms to stash things in, and had started to collect manga when his tamers weren't looking. Once he informed Krad of this, the blond started to stockpile weird things. As long as he wasn't asked to sort it, he wasn't going to ask.)

As he floated in the space, an odd screen popped up without warning.

It was Daisuke. Harry was still recovering from near drowning (not that Dark thought Krad would allow it since Harry and Sakura were their best chance at finally getting their own bodies) Daisuke had opted to retrieve Dark. And he had some unusual help.

The art piece Emiko wanted them to retrieve, the Eternal Guide, was helping him through the maze of images.

Since he was bored out of his mind, he watched it. The more he watched, the more amused he became. What Daisuke was unaware of was that this particular mirror synched up to the user if something was sealed in it.

And right now Daisuke had to retrieve feathers from females that Dark had encountered over the years. One of which was his mother before he was even born!

But almost near the end Dark noticed a problem. The Eternal Guide was running out of energy, fast. It was pretty clear she wasn't used to such high energy drains like the mirror. An evil grin came onto his face.

Time to embarrass Daisuke!

* * *

"DAMMIT DARK! THAT WASN'T FUNNY!" shouted Daisuke when he landed face first into the cold water. His langauge had gotten stronger since he started to loosen up a bit. Being in a prank war again Sirius for an entire month did _wonders _in that area. Dark's laughter certainly hadn't helped!

Halfway to shore, Daisuke found yet _another_ problem. Risa had gotten stuck on a small island when the tide went out, and the water was closing in fast. She could get really sick if he didn't get her to shore in time.

With and Towa were trying to stay above water on his head, which annoyed him further.

Daisuke managed to get to shore, and found Satoshi waiting.

"Riku's missing," he told him.

Seeing people coming, Daisuke headed towards the woods...swearing like a sailor at the night he was having. Satoshi watched him go with amusement.

Takeshi arrived carrying a flashlight, his annoyance at having to find Risa apparent. Satoshi went with them, amused more than anything. Though that bit grew when he learned that Hermione and Risa had been roped into wearing maid dresses and serving tea for the boys.

Perhaps he would enjoy this trip after all...

(If you want to know how Hermione got suckered into it, Takeshi blackmailed her when he learned that she had brought a cell phone against the rules. Naturally Hermione got her own for the indignity of the maid costume by giving the boy a nasty case of gas.)

Daisuke walked into the room where Harry was sleeping, his head absolutely murdering him. Dark thankfully kept his trap shut, otherwise Daisuke would have retreated into his mindscape to chase the spirit with a jagged sword cussing up a blue streak.

It was a trick Harry had discovered by accident, having put up with one crass comment too many made by Dark.

Needless to say the spirit had learned the hard way to shut up about the things he and Sakura could do once they were a year or two older. According to Sakura, Harry's revenge had made Krad laugh so hard that it scared Satoshi for a week straight.

The revenge Daisuke had on the spirit scared Satoshi for a month, and Dark had avoided him for a week.

"So let me get this straight. Daisuke impressed the spirit of the Eternal Guide so much that she became a live in maid?" said Harry incredulous.

"Pretty much," said Daisuke. A couple of Advil had improved his foul mood considerably. At least now he was moderately snappish instead of wanting to bite people's heads off.

"...At least she can be seen in public, unlike Dobby," shrugged Harry.

"And we don't have to do the laundry again," agreed Daisuke.

"So...how about you take a nap and I keep Takeshi from entering the room?"

"Agreed," said Daisuke. He had been up nearly the entire night looking for Dark, finding Risa and then rescuing Riku.

His magic was almost drained away, he was tired, and the migraine from last night still hadn't gone away.

* * *

Emiko was delighted to have Towa working around the house. The boys weren't when they realized it meant that the traps would be set up twice as fast. Her explanation as to why she still set them up, despite the fact that Harry _and_ Daisuke had long since finished the intermediate training*, made them blush.

Apparently she didn't want to be out of practice for when they gave her grandkids.

Sirius, when he heard that bit, barked out laughter and told them not to make him a grandpa _too_ early! Which caused both boys to through a hex in his direction.

Harry got up when he heard the knock at the door. Before he could open it, the hairs on the back of his neck went up. He drew his wand, and slowly walked backwards. He knew his grandfather was in the control room where the cameras were at, and made sure to get past the trapdoor that lead to a large pit. It wasn't deep enough to do serious harm, but it was enough to give some serious bruises and a broken bone if you landed wrong.

He signaled his grandfather to activate the trap, and cast the unlocking charm in a low voice so the other person couldn't hear it. The door opened without him touching it, and he knew that his precaution was well founded.

There was a Death Eater in full regalia waiting for him, wand at the ready. And another across the street where Sirius lived.

Except he was inside the house chatting with Emiko at the moment. So the house was empty.

Harry ducked without thinking and bolted down the hallway. The Death Eater chased him, only to find the floor missing under his feet.

The trap that lead to the pit was almost directly in front of the door.

The moment Harry cleared the hallway, the laser traps activated. He could hear the sound of breaking glass, and had never been more thankful that their family was a clan of phantom thieves.

The second the glass broke from outside, Emiko, Towa, Kosuke, Sirius and Daisuke all bolted to the control room, which was hidden in the basement. What the Death Eaters were unaware of was that the entire house was booby trapped, and as soon as Harry cleared the basement door they were all activated.

Unfortunately for the Death Eaters, some of those traps were fatal.

Harry took a deep breath of relief as soon as he locked and warded the door.

"What the hell happened?" asked Sirius.

"Death Eaters. Dai, do you have your cell on you?"

Daisuke threw it to him, and he speed dialed the Hikari twins.

"_Sakura here, what's up Daisuke?"_

"Sakura, whatever you do don't open the door. Get to the nearest safe zone you can," said Harry firmly.

"_What?"_

"There are Death Eaters in the town, at least eight of them just broke into our house and Sirius'. So far they haven't gotten past the traps."

He could hear her walking and Satoshi's voice on the other end. Someone had just knocked on their door.

"_Harry, could you send us a picture of where you are?"_

Harry took a quick look at the room, and noted that the fireplace was the one hooked to the floo. It had taken some doing to put one under the house without the usual chimney, but it had been installed with a smokeless flame and some salamander eggs. It was a special fireplace the Japanese had invented so that they could use the floo in urban areas without people asking why there was a fireplace inside an apartment.

"Can you use the floo? We have a registered opening that's under 'Niwa Control Room'," said Harry.

"_Hold on, we'll have to apparate to Draco's house once we get Hermione. She was studying with Satoshi today," _said Sakura.

She hung up, and five minutes later the Hikari twins, Draco, Luna, and Hermione were all spit out of the floo within a minute of each other. Each of them confirmed the same thing.

Death Eaters had come to Japan.

* * *

They stayed in the control room for a good day and a half, to insure that the Death Eaters weren't around. The house itself had been built with one purpose and had been in the family almost as long as the Niwa clan had been feuding with the Hikari.

It's purpose was to protect the Niwa family from any assault barring a nuclear or world ending attack. Though that _had_ been put to the test since they were barely a hundred miles away from Nagasaki.

That had been one of the first times in years that both clans had put aside their feud to help each other.

Because it was designed to keep the Niwa clan safe, it was always well stocked and prepared. So they waited patiently until the Japanese magical police showed up to tell them it was all clear. Though even then they came out wands first.

Considering who had just attacked them, it was understandable.

Two days after the Death Eaters who had been captured (mostly by the trap defense in the Niwa home) the infamous Order of the Phoenix showed up to assess the damage.

And found a very irate Emiko waiting for them.

"Let me get this straight...you people all had a warning that a prominent family in _JAPAN_ was going to be attacked four days ago, and you didn't think to warn us ahead of time?!" she said furious.

"We just received word of it, we didn't know when they were going to act," said Dumbledore placating.

Seeing the look Harry and Draco shot him, he winced.

"This is _inexcusable!_ Why is it that you people cannot keep these...Death Eaters...in your own damn country!" she asked angrily.

Dumbledore started to back up. She was angry, and rightfully so. And the source of her rage was in front of her. Once again he was reminded _why_ it was never a good idea to anger a witch who was also a mother.

The Japanese Magical Defense Force, or Temple Guards as they were more commonly known, were pretending that the most powerful man in Europe wasn't being held at wandpoint by a pissed off mother. If she did anything other than the more darker aspects of magic, then it was highly unlikely that they would even noticed.

* * *

_***Just for those who are wondering, this is the ranking system for the Niwa family trap levels.**_

_**Beginner:** locks, low leveled nonlethal lasers, and short pit falls_

_**Intermediate: **high level lasers, fast running carnivores such as alligators, dogs and robots, twenty foot pit falls, traps over the bed and electrocuted doors_

_**Master: **lethal traps, fifty foot pit falls, razor sharp blades at random points springing out, arrows out of walls, low level poisons and magic attacks, venomous snake pits_

**Master level traps are an elective for the Niwa clan, and very few decide to undergo that training unless they want to continue on stealing or curse breaking as a career. At the moment Harry is still under debate on whether or not to try for his mastery. It was interesting enough to note that the goblins, who are the primary employers of trap and curse breakers, have tried unsuccessfully for years to obtain the Niwa clan trap schematics. To this day some of the best at trap and curse breaking has been those with Niwa blood and are from the main branch of the clan.**

**Despite popular opinion that Emiko and the others are the last of the Niwas, there are in fact at least two extended branch families which are aware of their phantom thief heritage, but their bloodline is so weak that Dark is unable to manifest.**

**The Hikari clan branches are so thin that they are essentially squibs, and as such are unaware of their heritage to this date. Satoshi and Sakura are all that remains of the main branch.**


	14. Chapter 14

Emiko was not a happy witch. A week ago, the European menace that was Voldemort had returned, and had sent a good portion of his more intelligent Death Eaters after her nephew.

Fortunately he had chosen the _worst _place to attack (namely their home which was armed to the teeth and so well warded that the goblin cursebreakers had been impressed with it) and they had survived.

But now the old goat was trying to get her family and the three students who had left Hogwarts for the year to move into a cramped, dirty house that had previously been occupied by Sirius' parents. Emiko had put her foot down hard onto his and broken it, causing the goat to cry in pain.

"Absolutely _not_!" she declared.

"But it's a heavily..."

"Our home is heavily warded enough to repel and capture invaders, is far from surrounding homes and has a clear escape route. If you think for one minute we are going to pack our things and go to Europe to join your little group of flaming chickens with that man on the loose again, you are sorely mistaken!" said Emiko furious.

"Mrs. Niwa, please be reasonable! Voldemort is after you and your family because of your relation to Harry! If he were to show up here he could kill you and everyone in this town!"

Emiko gave him a frosty glare, and he backed away even further, though his left foot was on fire.

"What in Ametarasu's name makes you believe that four star hack could _possibly_ managed to break through four hundred year old wards which were designed to repel and incapacitate something stronger than the average European wizard?" she demanded.

"Voldemort has several powerful allies, some of which aren't even human," he tried to explain.

"And what exactly, prevents him from burning down your headquarters while you are having a meeting? From what I understand, Sirius still has family left who are aware of where his home is, so they can just burn the neighborhood down while you people sleep and be rid of you!" said Emiko angrily. Sirius winced, but conceded she had a valid point.

Dumbledore's mouth open and closed. Clearly that thought had never actually _occurred_ to him that all Voldemort would have to do is have Bellatrix or Narcissa tell them the general location and then kill them with fiend fyre.

"To be honest Dumbledore, I wouldn't trust you people with a broken wand," said Harry from behind her. He was in shock, but he was coherent enough to get his point across. He _didn't_ trust the old man to be able to protect anything, especially after his school years.

"Harry, you must return to England. We can..."

"What you'll do is go home and take care of _your_ problem," said Harry sharply.

Dumbledore and the few Order members who remained stared.

"But we need you!" said one of the dimmer ones.

"You don't need me. You people don't seem to even realize that the only real tactical advantage he has over you is that he is willing to use lethal force. Maybe if you lot actually grew a brain and started attacking back without relying on _nonlethal_ spells you might actually be able to take care of him!" spat Harry.

Seeing their shocked faces, Harry gave them an annoyed look.

"Did it ever occur to you that the number of trained muggleborn witches and wizards _outnumber_ the amount of Death Eaters he is willing to recruit?" he asked.

Judging by their reaction, clearly not. Emiko had had enough of Dumbledore. She turned to him, eyes blazing with annoyance and fury that only a mother could have, and told him in an icy tone "Leave and don't come back."

* * *

After the attack, a few things changed among the group. For starters, several Temple Guards were discreetly stationed in the houses which had never been rented across the Niwa family. Considering the fact that the Niwa clan was considered eccentric, it was a miracle they even _had _neighbors.

Satoshi, when he learned that Krad wasn't going to kill Harry at any point (and by extension Daisuke) finally decided to move in with their birth father.

Hiwatari had been angry when Sirius appeared and demanded custody. Even more so when the courts ruled in favor of Sirius because he didn't allow the children to fend for themselves. The fact was that the man had allowed two _fifteen_ year olds to live alone for nearly two years, which was considered neglect at the very least.

Sakura couldn't be happier, because Satoshi had started to get rings under his eyes from working at his part time job. Despite losing custody of the twins, Satoshi remained as the leader of the Dark Task Force for only one reason.

His plans were the only ones that had ever come even _close_ to capturing Dark.

Draco and Hermione all moved in together with Luna, who liked having the ability for a sleepover with Sakura.

Of course Emiko had a back up plan should Dumbledore or the European mages decide that Harry had to be the one to deal with Voldemort or tried to do something else monumentally stupid.

She borrowed Hedwig and got into contact with the branch family of the Niwa clan. While their blood wasn't strong enough to handle Dark without injury, they had proved to be of great use in other areas.

The branch family was the one responsible for administering the Mastery tests in traps and evasion. They had spend hundred of years improving on it and it was a mark of pride to have it added to the Mastery exam.

Since Harry _had_ expressed an interest in taking them, Emiko was preparing to send him off to the village where the branch family was located so he could expand his horizons. Fortunately he already knew how to mold and use chakra, since that had been on the syllabus for the temple program that he attended since he was no longer enrolled at Hogwarts.

* * *

"We have another one," said Shikaku.

"So little Harii will be staying with us to take his Mastery exams?" asked his wife.

"She said that a rather annoying group has taken an unhealthy interest in him, so it would be safer if he came to stay with us. Shikamaru doesn't seem to mind, and he appears to like the owl," said Shikaku.

It was a little known fact that the Nara clan used to be called the Niwa clan. Fortunately the two sides got along better than the Hyuuga ever could.

"Such a well behaved owl. Did she mention anything about problems with animals?"

"She said he might enjoy taking care of the deer. Something about his father being able to turn into one when he was fifteen," shrugged Shikaku.

"I can't wait to see Emiko-chan again!" said Yomiko. The two women had hit it off when Emiko had taken her mastery lessons. Though Yomiko had only been dating Shikaku at the time.

* * *

"Why won't these owls go away?!" complained Harry.

A month after the attack, the Niwa and Hikari households had been absolutely _flooded_ with owls. Apparently Dumbledore had spilled the beans that Harry had no intention of returning to Europe to deal with Voldemort should he return.

Such news had set of an entire avalanche of people complaining and demanding that he return at once and retake his rightful place as their savior.

More than a few howlers had been sent down a special shaft that lead to the ocean. Most of them from Molly Weasly.

After the second month, Emiko had had enough.

"Harry, I want you to start packing. I'm going to send you to live with the Naras for a while."

"Nara?"

"The Niwa branch family. In the village they live in they have made a real name for themselves, so it's more of a formality to call them the branch clan."

"But what about Sakura and Satoshi?"

"I'm sure Sakura would be happy to join you. From what I understand the Nara clan is quite friendly with the Hikari branch clan."

And with that, the matter was settled. Harry knew that his friends and family would be in far less danger if he was away, but he did feel some disappointment. He liked the town he was living in now, and watching the hit and miss dates that Daisuke had.

As he packed for warmer weather (the village was apparently in a very high temperature climate that it was called the Land of Fire) he noticed a message on his phone.

_Please tell me I'm not the only one being sent away to the branch family house- Sakura_

**R U heading 2 Land of Fire too?- Harry**

_I will be living with my second cousins and their daughter. Which village will you be living in? I'm heading to Konoha._

**Distant cousins and their son. I'll be taking the Niwa Trap Mastery exam while there. I'm on the road to Konoha as well. Shall we fly together?**

_Broom or wings?_

**How about both. Think Ai's wings can handle such a long flight?**

_She has no idea, since she has never manifested wings before._

**What better time to test them out? By the way which clan you staying with? I'll be with the Nara family. I hear they raise deer.**

_Yamanaka clan, known for their ability to go into the minds of others and turn them against their allies. I heard the head of the Yamanaka was the former leader of the Torture unit._

**Ouch. I'll try to keep that in mind when we head out on our dates.**

_LOL. Ttyl._

**Ttyl.**

* * *

Izumo and Kotetsu were on guard duty, again, for the fifth time that month. They didn't know how they ticked off Sarutobi that he would make them do this more than twice a week, but they hoped to figure out so they could apologize soon.

Suddenly they heard the sound of large wings, and then a muffled curse.

"SON OF A... I AM GOING TO STRANGLE YOU FOR THAT LATER YOU ASS!"

The next thing they heard was feminine laughter.

A few minutes later a pair of teens appeared, one looking like he had a run in with a tree and the tree won. The girl had one of the most unusual hair colors outside the Haruno family. They walked together like old friends.

"I hate that ass," growled the boy.

"I told you we should have used the other method, but noooo, you wanted to deal with him."

The boy growled again.

"Passports and reason for visit?" asked Izumo, grinning.

"We're staying with our cousins until things back home settle down," said the girl quickly.

"What are your cousin's names?" asked Kotetsu.

"Mine are the Naras," said the boy.

"Yamanaka."

The two guards stared, and looked at the kids harder. They didn't look like a Nara or a Yamanaka.

"Are you sure those are the names?"

"They're branch family members of our clans," said the boy.

"Would you mind if we confirmed that?"

"Go for it. I'll just be...meditating...until they arrive," said the boy a little too calmly.

_**Harry...calm down...NO! NOT THE GENDER SWITCHING POTION! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!**_

The evil grin on his face as he chased Dark around his mind gave the two seasoned chunin the chills.

Ten minutes later Inoichi and Shikaku came walking towards the gate. Harry was still chasing Dark around with various potions and sharp pointy objects, so Sakura gave him a good kick to the leg.

He opened an eye to see an amused Shikaku.

"You must be Harii. Emiko told me you were coming, but I didn't expect you until at least tomorrow."

"We flew here. Though a certain spirit is in the doghouse for retracting the wings too early..." said Harry with a shrug.

"You must be Sakura. Ino is eager to meet you. The last time we saw you or your brother you were still in diapers."

"I'm happy to say that he has a horde of fan girls after him, most of which are being beaten off by his girlfriend," smirked Sakura.

Inoichi laughed.

"I guess we can let you guys in. Sorry we had to keep you here," said Kotetsu.

"Not a problem. You were just insuring that we weren't up to some mischief, I'm sure," said Harry, getting up.

The noted with interest that the two branch clans were old friends, which gave them some relief.

"So what kind of village is this? It looks big enough to be classed as a town or city," said Harry.

"It's a shinobi village. Didn't Emiko warn you?"

Seeing the looks on Sakura and Harry's faces, clearly not.

"So how is Rio anyway?" asked Inoichi.

"Dead, for ten years. Our birth father found us by complete accident, but due to recent events we're living with him," said Sakura.

Sensing a bad topic, Inoichi asked them how far their studies were progressing. Learning both at least knew what chakra was and were able to mold it to some extent, they found something new to talk about.

They split off at a popular flower shop while Harry and Shikaku went farther in.

* * *

"So you're cousin Sakura? Funny, you have odd colored hair just like Sakura does!" said Ino.

"Huh?"

"My best friend. Her name is Sakura too and..."

"Hey Ino, what's all the fuss about? I heard a rumor that you have a cousin coming to..." said a girl with bright pink hair. She stared at Sakura, who stared back.

"Perfect timing! Sakura, meet Sakura!" said Ino cheerfully. This would be interesting.

The two Sakura stared at each other, having a standoff between them.

"So...how are we going to deal with this? There can't be two Sakura's in Konoha... it would be too confusing," said Hikari.

"Agreed. Do you have a boyfriend?" Haruno asked neutrally.

"Indeed. You?"

"Not yet, but he will submit or pay."

Ino would have said something, but this was too funny not to interrupt!

"So... How about I'm Kari and you be Sakura?" asked Hikari.

"Sounds fair to me," said Haruno.

Haruno left before she could get into a fight with the girl, who looked like she would give as good as she got.

"So what was that about?" asked Ino, eyes gleaming.

"Just a little dispute," said Sakura calmly. Then her eyes turned hard.

"But if she tries to go after my boyfriend, she will die."

Ino squealed evilly and immediately pulled the girl in for some juicy gossip.

* * *

"So... You're Shikamaru? You're taller than I thought," said Harry.

"How troublesome. So why did you come here anyway?" asked Shikamaru.

"Partially for my Mastery exams, but mostly because there was a certain incident and we didn't want the civilians to get involved more than they already had."

"What incident?" asked Shikaku. Emiko had alluded to something happening, but she didn't go into many details.

"Some idiots from Europe came to our house and attacked us. Since they were expecting it to be so well defended, they were taken out without any causalities, but Emiko decided that since I was planning to take the exams later anyway, that it wouldn't hurt to get me out of the line of fire while they find a way to keep them from trying twice."

"Interesting. Why were you attacked?"

"Something about a prophecy being made about me and this two bit hack that's been terrorizing the communities for 70 years. Why they haven't grown a pair and killed him already I have no idea."

"So what exactly is your specialty anyway?" asked Shikamaru.

"I took a test and learned it was primarily transformation, elemental manipulation which was mostly wind and transfiguration. Oh and languages, but that was mostly an optional course."

Shikamaru gave him a look, wondering what he meant by transformation. Harry spotted a stag nearby and grinned.

Suddenly there was a black stag standing there and the two Naras had great difficulty telling if it was really a stag or a human because the shift was so seemless.

"Troublesome. I dread to see what happens when you meet Naruto," said Shikamaru flatly. He could actually _see_ the village spontaneously bursting into flames if the two met.


	15. Chapter 15

Naruto stared at Shikamaru's distant cousin. Said cousin stared back with a pair of black fox ears and tail waving from his backside. A large group of Sasuke-fan girls were staring at the cousin with something akin to lust...and frankly they were scaring the hell out of the village pariah at the moment.

"So... You're the fox boy Shika told me about. I'm Harry."

"Naruto."

At some unseen signal, they nodded.

"Specialty?"

"Traps and pranks."

"Flight, unpredictable use of magic and the ability to vanish without warning. Also pranks," said Harry with a grin.

Naruto's fox grin grew bigger as the two debated pranks all the way to a popular ramen stand. To his delight, Harry shared a love of the food, though Emiko refused to make it more than once a month.

To the collective shock of the people watching (particularly Teuchi, the owner of Naruto's favorite stand) the two devoured their bowls at a synchronized pace.

When they were done (Harry paying the bill, to Naruto's relief and Teuchi's joy) Harry slung an arm around Naruto's shoulder and the two went off to plot.

* * *

(Elsewhere with Team 10)

Shikamaru paused from his shogi game.

"Two forces of chaos has teamed up and are plotting doom for anyone that annoys them. Troublesome," he said.

(Back with Harry and Naruto)

"So your teammates don't actually work well together?"

"One's a banshee and the other is the king of all emos," said Naruto sagely.

"Hmmm...how about a little joke on them?" grinned Harry evilly.

"Do tell."

Harry turned into a perfect doppelganger of Naruto and grinned at the boy.

"Oh I can just see the perfect pranks for this!" cackled Naruto.

"You handle the video, I'll handle the jokes. By the time they realize I'm not you, they won't know what hit them!" grinned Harry.

The two cackled evilly, not noticing a certain Snake Mistress listening in with an enormous smirk on her face. It was always nice to see someone else getting screwed over with a nice dash of psychological trauma.

* * *

'Naruto' walked up to his teammates, eager to start the chaos. The real one was with Kakashi, explaining that it was all a test for situation awareness for the other two. Since it meant that he didn't have to do any actual work, Kakashi played along.

As soon as the disguised paint tags were placed on the banshee and the emo, Harry walked away. Five seconds later, they went off, and the effect became apparent.

Harry had laced the banshee's tag with a slight electric shock...and turned her hair so puffy that it became an afro. The moment she realized that, the chase was on.

Harry had his broom disillusioned as he made 'feats of skill' across rooftops several dozen feet apart. Both Sasuke and the Pinkette...well, now orange afro haired girl...gave chase with death in their eyes.

Harry ran past Ino, winked once, and the girl whipped out a camera and caught the prank. Sakura was never going to live this down!

Shikamaru saw the entire thing, sighed, and caught his errant cousin in time for the real Naruto to appear with Kakashi and Asuma laughing his ass off.

"NARUTO!" screeched Sakura, fist ready to lay the boy low.

Only that fist was caught by the blue haired girl, who had since told people her name was Kari after a talk with her boyfriend.

"What did I tell you about going after my boyfriend?" she asked.

Ino didn't like the way Sasuke stared at the girl, who had a cool demeanor as she rescued her boyfriend.

"Really Harry, the electric shock tag? Why didn't you use it on the guy instead?"

"Bah, I live for danger!" said the fake, letting the transformation drop to reveal...a green eyed version of Sasuke with Naruto's spiky hairstyle.

Ino and Sakura goggled at the boy who was easily cuter than Sasuke.

"Really itoko, did you have to piss off the emo and the banshee?" asked Shikamaru.

"Can't get out of practice Shika. You know what the clan does for a living, and these two still give me a better chase than the cops."

"In that case you're feeding the deer tonight," said Shikamaru. The odd thing was that Harry didn't actually _mind_ feeding the animals after he was shown how. And the deer loved him to death. It was amusing to watch the animals crowd around him trying to eat his hair.

"Shika, would you mind introducing us?" asked Sakura eagerly.

"Hands off bitch, he's mine," said Kari. Her eyes flashed a blood red, which made Sasuke stare at her.

"Sorry. Name's Harry Niwa. I'm from another branch of the Nara clan that specializes in getting through traps."

"Sakura Hikari, though you can call me Kari to avoid confusion. I'm from Ino's family, though a branch of it."

"Why don't you two be honest? They're from the main branch before the two lost contact. There's only a few left. Hell, Harry's only here because the branch clan makes better traps and he's here for his mastery exam," said Shikamaru.

"Which reminds me. Sakura, Sasuke, you should have checked to see if it really was Naruto. I'm sure Harii here didn't mimic his movements _that_ accurately," said Kakashi.

"You could always employ Aunt Emiko's method of getting people to pay attention..." said Harry innocently.

Shikamaru stared at his cousin, before turning around and walking away.

"Troublesome."

"What's your Aunt's method of getting people to pay attention?"

"Well it doubles as a defense in case of attack, but here's the gist of it..."

Only Naruto caught a word of what Harry was saying and prepared for the usual awakening. Only he would be spared from the onslaught...

* * *

Naruto woke up, saw the unfamiliar addition and promptly got up to disable the trap. Before setting foot on the ground, he double checked for any new additions. Contrary to popular belief, Naruto didn't keep his place messy because he was a guy who didn't like to clean.

He did it to keep intruders from laying a trap that he could fall in. In reality Naruto was a very clean person, but after one too many traps laid by people who hated the Kyuubi and wanted to take it out on him, he started to leave things on the floor.

It had saved his life more times than he could count, because he tended to memorize what was where, and most people didn't bother to replace it correctly when it came to clutter. Quite a few traps had been averted simply because someone threw a ramen cup in the trash.

Seeing the floor exactly as it had been the night before, Naruto stepped down. He carefully tested his weight. He had avoided a few traps holes before.

It wasn't until he went into his kitchen (the bathroom had remained untouched) that he paused. Standing there was Kakashi with Harry, and both were rather pleased with him.

"You made it too obvious," yawned Naruto.

"Only to a seasoned prankster it is. Want to see how Sakura and the Emo prince are fairing?" grinned Harry.

Naruto nodded. Hopefully Harry would pay for breakfast, since this entire thing was his idea.

"So how badly did you hit them?"

"Same traps as yours. Except the floor was rigged with a minor electric shock tag every ten inches. Nice clutter defense by the way," said Harry grinning.

"I get trapped quite a bit, though fortunately they quit trying to get my room after I started to wake up to unfamiliar presences."

They paused as they felt a rather large amount of killing intent aimed at them and found Sakura wet with pink paint and her hair all frizzy. Evidently she hadn't expected them to trap her room.

"I would start running if I were you..." she snarled.

"Why run...when you can fly!" said Harry with a smirk, as his wings smacked her in the face and he grabbed Naruto, who squawked once before calming down.

"This is...SO COOL! You have wings?!" said Naruto grinning.

"Yup. And a broom that lets me fly. Remind me to show you how to fly on one later, so we can do aerial bombing on the Emo prince and the bitch queen," said Harry.

They landed near the Uchiha district...and heard a bellow of rage as Sasuke went through the traps. After a few minutes it stopped, and it became clear that he finally took the hint and started disabling the electric shock tags.

"I think Shikamaru is up by now. Want to join me for breakfast?"

"You bet!" said Naruto.

* * *

Shikaku stared a moment when he saw the flash of blond hair, but when he realized it was only Naruto being invited in by Harry, he ignored it. Shikaku never held the Kyuubi against him, nor had he told Shikamaru to be wary of the boy. Yomiko was a foreigner, so she had nothing against the beast either.

"Morning Harry," said Shikaku.

"Morning Shikaku-san. Hope you don't mind if I invited my friend over for breakfast. He was the only one to figure out the traps before they went off," said Harry with a grin.

"You employed the Niwa beginner traps on Team 7?" he asked impressed.

"Kakashi asked me to, since I was more familiar with the standard traps than he was."

"...Mind starting Shikamaru on the intermediate course? He passed the beginner ones a year before he passed the genin exam."

"Not a problem. Think Inoichi-san and Choza-san would mind if I started their kids on the course?"

"I'll ask them later. Just make sure Asuma approves of it first."

"He heard what I was planning to do with Team 7 and asked if I could do something similar to motivate his team," grinned Harry.

"Nothing that harms the house, other than that I could care less," said Yomiko immediately.

"Fair enough, but that still leaves plenty of pranks I could use."

"Yo, Aniki! What the hell are you talking about?" asked Naruto.

"Aniki?" said Harry in return.

"Well you're the first person my age who's accepted me without looking at me funny, and you can play pranks on people without caring about the consequences. So Aniki," said Naruto simply.

Harry grinned and messed the boy's spiky haired, which had him squawk again but said nothing. He didn't seem to mind the fact that Harry was so playful.

"Any chance Naruto could join us for breakfast in the morning Yomiko-san?"

"I don't know... We would have to ask his team leader. Who is it anyway?"

"Kakashi Hatake," said Shikaku. He didn't mind the blond being there so long as Harry set up the traps and kept him in line.

"Well in that case of course you can join! Just to let you know, we start around 8 and end at 9. Asuma normally doesn't have the kids until ten because of Shika and Ino," said Yomiko cheerfully.

Naruto gaped, but kept quiet. It was the first time he had been allowed to come over to other people's houses without question. It was a nice feeling. Harry just grinned and helped himself to an apple.

Yomiko never voiced it (neither had Emiko really) but his preference for fruit as a quick snack had been a pleasant surprise. Most European boys preferred greasy things like fish and chips.

After ten years of living with the Dursley family, such food made his stomach hurt if he ate too much, so most days he preferred fruits. Upon learning that, Emiko kept a large bowl of fruits in the house.

"So Naruto, why is it that so many people glared at you on the way here? And don't tell me it was because of pranks, because people don't give you the look of death and that much hate because of pranks."

"I would like to hear this as well," yawned Shikamaru. He had always noticed the looks, but had never said anything.

Naruto fidgeted, but the people he was sitting with made it clear that they held nothing against him.

"I have the nine tailed fox inside of me," he admitted.

"Nine Tailed Fox? What the hell is that?" asked Harry.

"The Kyuubi no Yoko attacked the village 14 years ago, killing a lot of good shinobi. Since it was sealed into Naruto, many of the survivors hold it against him," explained Shikaku.

"Troublesome as always Naruto. So is this going to be a regular thing?" asked Shikamaru.

"As long as Naruto can get through some of the beginner and start the intermediate traps in time for breakfast, yeah," said Harry.

"Meh."

Naruto sat and ate the breakfast he was given without complaint, which raised a few questions in Yomiko's mind. Normal boys complained about the amount of vegetables in their food...well except for Harry who ate them willingly. Naruto, although giving them the evil eye, ate them anyway.

"So Naruto-kun, what do you normally eat for breakfast?" she asked pleasantly.

"Instant ramen. Only thing I can afford. Every time I go into a store they immediately jack up the price three times higher at least," said Naruto without thinking.

"What kind of shop survives having the price that high?" Harry asked.

"No one else gets the higher price," said Naruto sourly.

"Hmm...next time you go into one of the stores, tell me which one and I'll make sure they get the message that price gouging isn't tolerated," said Harry.

Shikaku gave him a look and Harry grinned.

"I don't want it to come back to bite me in the ass later," he said flatly. It was well known that Harry was a Nara from another branch, though he had no skill with shadow manipulation as of yet.

"Oh trust me, when I'm done with them no one will think to have it point back to the Nara clan. There's a few things that you weren't made aware of for safety reasons," said Harry.

"Troublesome."

* * *

Naruto decided to show Harry exactly what was going on with the shopping problem, and Harry started his little trick. He was fairly certain that Emiko never mentioned that he was actually a noble from Europe, since they barely cared about that sort of thing. Outside Sirius and Draco's lessons on pure blood society, they rarely even remembered it.

That wasn't to say that Harry had yet to claim his family ring from the goblins. He just left it on his dresser table since he never saw a need for it.

He wore it now under the notice-me-not charm that was placed on it long before he was born. It was the most obvious symbol that he was in fact a noble, even if he rarely acted like it. And he knew that sometimes pure bloods or other magicals came into the village, because Shikaku had given him a book to read about the history of them when he arrived.

As a result, most people would recognize a magical noble's ring, even if they didn't know the crest.

Five minutes after Naruto went into the store, Harry followed him in and waited for the signal.

That signal was the look on the cashier's face when Naruto brought up his selection. The second she started to jack the price up at random, Harry stepped in.

"Am I to understand this correctly? Since when does Konoha use such outrageous price gouging on it's ninja?" he asked coolly. He allowed the spell to drop on the ring for a few minutes, and the woman's face paled quite noticeably.

"We don't serve his kind here," she said tartly.

"So let me get this straight. You don't serve shinobi in here?" he said quite loudly.

That caught the attention of more than few chunin and one jounin.

"No, we don't serve his kind here," she repeated.

"Is there a problem?" asked the jounin. She was wearing wraps and had red eyes.

"I caught her price gouging him while shopping for supper, and when I called her on it she said that she doesn't serve shinobi. If that's the case I dread to think of what would happen to your comrades if they shopped here," said Harry pleasantly. Since the Kyuubi was considered a secret to outsiders and even talking about it was punishable by death, the woman was caught in a trap and she damn well knew it.

"Is this true Naruto-kun?" asked the woman.

"Yeah. It always happens whenever I enter a store, and usually the civilians are at the register before me," he said honestly.

The woman glared at the sweating cashier, who knew that trouble was on the horizon.

"I _will_ be talking to the Hokage about this. Price gouging a shinobi isn't tolerated in a shinobi village," said the woman angrily.

Harry noted that some of the other shinobi had realized what the problem was and had left without buying anything. By night the tale would spread through the ranks and the store would lose a good portion of it's business.

"Tell you what Naruto. Since you can't trust these people to not make you pay through the nose for your groceries, why don't we hit the ramen stand and then look for a place that doesn't overcharge the shinobi?" asked Harry pleasantly. He didn't bother to lower his voice, and more people heard the comment.

Ten minutes later Naruto and Harry were at the ramen stand he loved, and Kuranai (the woman with red eyes) joined them.

"That was a nice trick you played on them."

"It wasn't a trick. Naruto mentioned his issues with buying food other than instant ramen and I promised to do something about it. The only requirement to helping him was that it not trace back to the Nara clan."

"You must be Harii then. I would like to know how you got her attention so quickly without her raising a fuss for helping him though," she asked.

Harry showed her the ring on his hand, and her eyebrow went up.

"You're a magical noble?"

"Last of my father's line. I normally don't bother wearing this thing, since I have no actual use for it. Well, aside from telling people that it's not smart to mess with me. My father's clan was extremely wealthy before he was killed, and it's just lying in the vault collecting dust. What better use for a title I have no need for than to help a friend?"


	16. Chapter 16

Within a week of starting Naruto on the intermediate training (with promise of a hot breakfast with people who didn't hold old fox face against him) the boy practically flew through it.

The same couldn't be said of Sasuke and Sakura. Even after Harry patiently explained what he was doing and how it would improve their ability to discern traps and tactics, the two still gave him a look most villagers reserved for Naruto.

Naturally Harry brought Naruto into the trap planning sessions to improve his skill, though he mostly just needed some brushing up on it.

Though there was some really interesting by play whenever Kari and Sakura got together. It seemed the pinkette's interest in the Emo prince had abruptly shifted to Harry once it became clear that while he looked remarkably like Sasuke, his personality was more akin to Naruto.

Which had horrified Harry, because it meant the two Sakuras would be after him. And somehow he had the sneaking suspicion that Krad would get into the fight should Haruno even remotely look like she was succeeding.

Though even Naruto didn't question why most of the seals Harry slapped on her were seals that would steal a person's voice. Those were nearly impossible to take off.

Kakashi was no fool, and it showed. Two days after Harry coming he got the boy to make sure that his team could survive a mission without him. Harry was a natural fighter and the fact that he was able to fly through the infamous ANBU trap course (which was actually a smaller version of the Niwa clan Master course inside one of the Nara barracks) meant he was unusually skilled.

The amusing thing was that Harry could set Sasuke on his ass and get Haruno to shut up during practice was only a bonus. The two had started to improve in leaps and bounds trying to even remotely catch up to him while Naruto trained with him. He remembered fondly the argument Sakura had with Harry after the first time he slapped a high powered silence tag on her.

* * *

_Flashback_

Ten minutes after Sakura started to yell at Naruto for asking a simple question, Harry appeared out of nowhere and slapped a seal on her back in a hard to reach place.

A quick handseal later, and it activated. It took a moment for Kakashi to recognize the tag.

"Ninja...are supposed to be quiet. How the hell are you supposed to go into enemy territory with hair that bright and a voice that's louder than an explosive tag to match?" asked Harry calmly.

He pinned Sakura with ease, and she glared at him with venom.

"If you don't shape up, Haruno, then you'll get yourself and your team killed. Even Naruto knows to keep his mouth shut when it's not needed."

"Naruto is a loudmouth who wears bright orange," Sasuke countered.

"Yes, but how many times have you seen an ANBU chasing him for a successful prank he has played? As I recall, there was a story of him painting the Hokage monument and no one noticed the bright orange jacket until _after_ he was nearly finished. While he is loud and wears bright colors, he has the skill that makes up for it."

Harry looked at Naruto who was beaming at him. Few people ever seemed to notice his ability to infiltrate the higher clearance areas long enough to prank people and get away. Not even Kakashi had commented on it.

Sasuke actually looked at Naruto speculatively. True, he was loud and orange was a horrible color for a ninja, but...Iruka was the only one to capture him with any consistency from what he heard. Naruto had avoided jounin level ninja since before he was a genin.

After that, the Uchiha started to give Naruto a little more respect, to the boy's delight.

_Flashback end_

Ever since that day, Harry had taken the boy under his wing (almost literally once Kakashi learned he could manifest _actual_ wings whenever he pleased) and Naruto had been improving so fast that it was almost impossible for his team to catch up.

Clearly something was very wrong at the academy if Naruto had been overlooked despite his clear talent.

Though there was an odd day when Naruto kept shooting Harry the strangest looks for some reason...

* * *

Harry had been teaching Naruto meditation (I/E the method he used to keep Dark in line whenever he pissed him off) when suddenly the four were dragged into a large sewer system for no apparent reason.

"**The hell?"** said Dark.

"Who are you?!" demanded Naruto.

"Bah. Naruto you have a giant fox thing in your stomach. I have this pain in the ass who thinks it's funny to ruin people's dates," said Harry.

"**If it was for me you'd be stuck riding that stick everywhere!" ** retorted Dark.

"Transformation magic, dumbass!" Harry shot back.

"**Who do you think _gave_ the Niwa's that ability to begin with!"** he said.

"Um guys, where the hell are we?" asked Naruto.

"My guess is that this is _your_ landscape, considering mine is a veritable city in the clouds," said Harry.

"My mindscape...is a sewer..." Naruto deadpanned.

"This coming from a kid who made a naked henge to locate any pervert in a ten block radius?" asked Harry amused.

"...I hate it when you make a point."

"HAH!"

"**I suppose it would only be fair to see old fuzz butt?"**

Harry took one look at Kyuubi and was decidedly unimpressed. Something that annoyed the fox greatly.

"_**STAND STILL SO I CAN CRUSH YOU BRAT!"**_ he roared.

Harry kept mocking the fox, apparating away long before the fox came anywhere close. Dark and Naruto were sitting there with bowls of ramen enjoying the show.

Finally Harry popped out of the cage, leaving an annoyed giant fox behind.

"_**Why are you not properly terrified of me?!"**_it demanded crossly.

Dark started laughing his ass off.

"**Him? Terrified of _you_? This kid has been dealing with monsters for years now! Hell, you barely rate any more impressive than the damn snake he and his cousin set loose from under their school!"** crowed Dark.

"_**Snake?"**_ it asked, curious.

"It was a basilisk bound under our school and some idiot kept setting it on the students. We let it go and it's currently living in the forest outside the school grounds," shrugged Harry.

"_**A basilisk...you actually expect me to believe you went up against a snake more feared than Manda and lived to tell about it?"**_ said the Kyuubi in clear disbelief.

Harry snapped his fingers and said "Memory time!"

Naruto and Kyuubi watched with interest as a twelve year old and his cousin freed a thousand year old snake the size of a boss summon. The thing was older than Manda easily!

"Any questions?" asked Harry grinning.

"Aniki, you're so awesome!" said Naruto.

"Why yes, yes I am. Now, as for you Mr. Fuzzy, I have a proposition for you," said Harry.

"_**I'm listening. Amuse me brat."**_

"If you can cooperate and help Naruto become a better shinobi, I will teach him how to change this dingy landscape so that you can actually move around here. And I can make that seal a collar instead of a cage."

"_**I just have to be nice and not try to eat him, correct?"**_

"Essentially. Insults are fine, so long as they don't hurt him too much. Hell, you can use them to motivate the kid!"

"HEY!"

"_**Hmm... You make an interesting proposal kid. If you can teach him how to change it from this to something more interesting, then I will accept this deal. But only if you can show this kid how to do it."**_

"Fair enough. Give me a few months at least, and I'll see how well Naruto takes to the lessons," said Harry.

"_**Good. Now scat!"**_

* * *

A week after that little trip, Naruto started his training into turning the sewer into a forest. Like Harry had promised, soon it became more interesting for the Kyuubi...once he showed Naruto how to shift things in his mind. It took the boy days to figure out how to turn the cage (with an annoyed fox still in it) into a large enough collar with the kanji for seal on it. Something about the bars seemed to be extremely resistant to the change, despite the fact that the seal was still strong as ever. However it finally stayed put when Naruto, in a fit of irritation, made a collar of chains. Chains Kyuubi knew very well for some reason, if his growl was anything to go by.

The way the cage refused to change form caused some suspicion in Harry though...

"**You want me to _what_?"**

"I want you to inspect the collar Naruto has around the fox. Something about that resistance we encountered was _not_ normal," said Harry.

"**And what do I get in return?"**

"You get an entire week out of my body to harass the kunoichi. For the love of Inari, don't give me any memories!"

Dark licked his lips. There was one kunoichi he had his eye on, and this was the perfect chance for some fun. She looked like she would be interested.

"**Deal."**

A few days later a very surprised Dark returned with some interesting news. Apparently the chains weren't entirely made of chakra like he had assumed.

There were a pair of souls stuck inside the seal. One inside the seal tag itself and the other in the chains. They were familial spirits to Naruto, which pointed to his parents.

According to Dark, they were as surprised to see him as he was them. One was a man who looked like an older Naruto, the other was a woman who's hair could put Daisuke to shame in the redness factor.

In the interest of giving them a chance to move around like Naruto could, Dark tweaked the seal a bit. To say they were startled that he did so was an understatement.

Naruto would be in for a real surprise next time he used shadow clones. Somehow, Harry knew he wasn't going to be the only one.

Which was why Harry was taking Naruto to the large training ground called the Forest of Death.

* * *

"Aniki, what are we doing here?" asked Naruto.

"Naruto, can you do me a favor? I need three shadow clones, and I want you to push as much chakra as you can into them."

Naruto blinked at the odd request, but did his best to comply. It took him a moment to figure out how, but once he did, he got a real shock.

Standing before him wasn't three versions of himself. One was a female with bright red hair and green eyes. One looked like an older version of himself. And the final one had long black hair with fox ears and nine tails behind him. The final male had a very odd outfit.

"Aniki, what...?"

The red haired woman threw herself at Naruto, hugging the breath out of him.

"Naruto, I would like you to meet what I assume are your parents. I had Dark investigate your seal after the trouble we had with it, and he found two familial spirits sealed at two different points. The last guy is the fox. He's agreed to behave so long as you let him enjoy his first taste of freedom in a while."

"No destroying the village or causing any chaos. Clear?" said Naruto once the woman let go enough.

"_**Whatever brat. You think I want that playboy to change the seal back to the way it was?"**_ said Kyuubi. When Dark had told him what he was doing, the fox naturally wanted in as well. So long as he behaved like any other human, they could care less.

"Go have some fun you old furball. Just try not to start a fight. You have plenty of chakra, but you're still in a clone. One good hit and you go poof," Harry advised.

"_**Thanks for the reminder. I'll pop myself if I have to, now that I can walk around on my own. Later."**_

After that, Naruto spent the entire night catching up with his parents. He was quite shocked to hear that the Fourth was in actuality his father.

Naturally he had to punch the man a good one for sticking the old fox inside him. But really, he should have seen that one coming a mile away.

After the eventful night he had with his parents (both of which were really proud of him, to his relief) Naruto went straight to the Hokage.

Who was beyond shocked that Naruto had learned of his parents and had even talked to them. After a quick demonstration, the Hokage actually fainted from the shock that Minato was talking to him again.

Once Naruto left (he had a team training session with Kakashi) Harry showed up.

* * *

"I suppose I should thank you for letting him get to know his parents. But I have to ask how you did it," said the Hokage.

"What can I say? I would do the same thing in his position if I could. As for how I did it...You'll have to ask Dark. I don't know nearly enough about seals to alter them, and he should be around the village."

"Dark?"

Harry nodded.

"The spirit that lives inside me. Naruto may have been stuck with fox face, but I inherited a 400 year old playboy from my mother's family. We specialize in seals and traps, so I asked him to look at Naruto's seal and the collar we recently placed on the fox, since it was abnormally resistant. When he came back he found out that there were two familial spirits in both chain and seal, and he tweaked it so they could walk around. They just possessed Naruto's clones after that."

"I believe I would like to speak to this 'Dark'."

"Last I checked he was going to see some kunoichi with a fishnet top and a tan coat to ask if she was interested in some 'fun time'. Seeing as how he has a reputation as a damn playboy, I thought it better not to ask," said Harry sheepishly.

"Tan with fishnet... Dear kami, he's trying to have a one night stand with ANKO?!"

"I said he was a playboy. Apparently he found her interesting enough. Frankly I could care less so long as it doesn't bite me in the ass later or point back to the Nara clan," said Harry.

Suddenly a man with dark purple hair ran past, avoiding snake left and right. Anko ran past him cackling with glee. Harry blinked, then face palmed.

"I am going to kill him for this. I asked him not to make a damn scene but no, he had to do something like this..."

"I take it that was Dark?"

"Yes, and he is going to pay for this in painful ways..." said Harry.

Sarutobi watched the fleeing pair, and chuckled. At least things wouldn't become boring.


	17. Chapter 17

"Dark, I swear to Ametarasu that if I get any of the memories of your time with Anko I will turn you into a eunuch," said Harry flatly.

Dark, inside Harry's mind again, winced. From how peeved the boy sounded, it was entirely possible that Harry would actually follow through.

Anko had chased him across the village and back, and then proceeded to wear out his physical body with her affections. If Dark didn't have 400 years of experience on his side...

Needless to say Anko wanted a repeat with the only man in the village brave enough to grab her ass while she was eating dango...then steal her dango and get away with it.

The amount of mental trauma she had tried to inflict had failed miserably, as Dark had laughed when she tried to drop snakes on him. He was a thief who stole from people for the past 400 years for kami's sake! He could waltz through the best of the Nara trap course blindfolded and come out unscathed!

"Dark, let me make this abundantly clear to you. If any of your activities come back to haunt me, or implicate the Nara or Niwa clan in anyway...or worse I end up getting memories of them during my dreams...your ass is going to be handed to you so fast that Krad would be impressed," said Harry in a dangerously sweet tone.

Dark went pale so fast it was impressive that he wasn't a ghost.

* * *

"So what exactly is the village getting geared up for?" asked Harry.

"Chunin exams are coming up in a week, and I have it on good authority that all the newest genin teams will be elected to go," said Shikaku.

"Chunin exams? Anything like the Mastery?"

"Somewhat. They have to get past at least the first two and the first half of the third to get a chance to prove if they're ready to advance to the next rank," admitted Shikaku.

"Would it help any if I gave Shikamaru some proper motivation to get the next rank?" he asked innocently.

"It would depend on the motivation," said Shikaku evenly.

"I have my methods, though something tells me it would even get you motivated...and your wife would want to trade with me," he said mysteriously.

* * *

The next morning started with the most unusual of smells coming from the kitchen.

Shikaku yawned...and stared. The only ones in the house were his family...and Harry. Yomiko was still sound asleep, so where were the smells coming from? Whatever it was, it smelled absolutely delicious.

As if drawn to the smells, the Nara males and a certain blond prankster made their way to the table. Yomiko watched the scene highly amused and with some idea as to what was actually going on. Suddenly the odd request Harry made last night started to make sense.

Shikaku, Shikamaru and Naruto (who was now a very regular guest at the house, not that Shikamaru or Shikaku cared) were staring open eyed and mouths completely dropped.

Standing in the kitchen was Harry, his hair behind a bandanna and wearing a rather tasteful apron. On the table was a full spread, and he was cooking with expert ease.

They all settled down at the table, and when he set the fruits down, he looked highly amused.

"What?"

"You know how to cook?" said Shikamaru in disbelief.

"It's a hobby, like my random book of the day thing. Are you going to stare or will you eat before it gets cold?"

Shaking their head in disbelief, they started to eat. Both Nara males and Naruto paused after the second bite, and stared at him in absolute shock.

Naruto was the one to voice exactly what they were all thinking.

"Aniki, how did you learn to cook so good? This is delicious!"

Harry looked sheepish.

"My other...aunt...had me cooking since I was tall enough to handle the stove. When I moved in with Aunt Emiko, I realized that I had a love for the art, not just a knack. She let me take cooking classes to sharpen my skills and I learned I had a real talent for it. So she let me cook dinner every once in a while," admitted Harry.

"I was unaware you had a second aunt," said Shikaku.

"As far as we are concerned, we aren't related even remotely. It was a cruel twist of fate that my mother and Aunt Emiko were related to her even through my maternal grandmother," said Harry flatly. Clearly there was some very bad blood between the two, so they dropped the subject.

A familiar impish smirk crossed his face as he held up a simple bento filled with what appeared to be a type of sausage.

"This, Naruto is for your team as congratulations. They are about to start the intermediate course," said Harry grinning evilly.

"What's in it?" asked Shikamaru warily.

"Do you really want to know? I'm sure Chouji wouldn't mind trying it, but Ino..."

"It isn't poisoned in any way is it?" Shikamaru said sharply.

"Of course not! Do you think I would dilute or ruin my cooking with _poison_? A few prank potions, maybe, but never poison."

"Mind if I box up a bit of this to give to Chouji?"

"Go for it. I'll even help," said Harry.

(He was later kidnapped by Chouji's mother who he cheerfully debated recipes with. It still made him laugh when he thought about it.)

* * *

"Aniki said this was your prize for starting the next stage of traps," said Naruto.

The two had taken so long getting out of the beginning stages of the next course that they had missed breakfast entirely. They accepted the bento boxes with grace.

"What kind of sausage is this?" asked Sasuke giving it a wary look.

"Not a sausage, according to aniki. He said that Chouji couldn't get enough of it when he tried it, so you know the stuff is really good. Aniki is an awesome cook!" said Naruto.

After sharing a flavored rice ball (which Harry also made) they agreed with that assessment...and tried to eat the sausage like food since they were starving.

* * *

Harry grinned as he tied the banner to their rooms informing them exactly _what_ they had eaten. There was a camera set to go off the moment the two started to really get going in the morning. And one in the bathroom for good measure.

By the time the other half of Team 7 arrived, the two were looking green at the gills.

"What happened to you?" asked Kakashi, mildly concerned.

"We were informed of what exactly Harry Niwa gave us as a congratulations present," said Sakura sickly.

"You two weren't complaining when you tried it! So what happened?" asked Naruto. He had eaten some of it himself, and aside from tasting slightly odd, it wasn't that bad.

"Naruto, how can you not freak out after learning what _it_ was?" said Sasuke incredulous.

"It's not nearly as horrifying as you might think," he replied with a shrug.

"What exactly did he give you?" asked Kakashi.

"I gave them some of my best haggis," said Harry cheerfully.

"And that is...?"

"Sheep intestines stuffed and spiced with a special blend," said Naruto. Surprisingly he was the only genin who didn't immediately hurl in the bushes.

"It's a bit of a delicacy in the country were I go to school, along with playing the bagpipes and wearing a skirt like bottom called a kilt," said Harry helpfully.

"Scotland?" Kakashi asked. He had traveled after Minato died, but he had never been there.

"Yup."

"Ah. Please try to limit the psychological warfare on them. They're still green around the edges after all...well except Naruto."

Naruto beamed at him. Every since Harry showed up, he had been getting the respect he had properly earned for his pranks.

As Harry put them through the basics of what the intermediate course was, he pulled Naruto aside with the news that he had the option to forgo the rest of the course if he could get through the smaller one the ANBU used...without the use of chakra which would deduct from his overall score.

Naruto's eyes gleamed, and somehow Harry had the feeling the boy would practically fly through the course, sans wings. The only real issue would be the pit traps.

* * *

Naruto stood before the dark room, which would only be lit up once he entered it. The ANBU there were almost entirely Nara members, since Naruto had proven to be a veritable prodigy when it came to traps.

The fact that Harry was sponsoring him to take the same exam he had recently finished (and came out almost with flying colors) spoke volumes about the boy's ability.

As soon as he entered, the door slammed shut and the only opening was at the other end. He could quit at any time, but if he did it was an automatic fail...unless of course he was extremely close to the end. Like say at the last trap.

Naruto got ready and started to run. The swords that came out were all poisoned with paralytic types. He ducked under those, his short height an advantage. He relied on every one of his prank-enhanced senses to avoid the blades.

Suddenly he found the floor give way, and he leaped back to the edge. Below him was a large pit with spikes. Inside the pit were several very dead bodies of the T and I victims who weren't fast enough or smart enough to get past this trap.

It was a bit of a game to the Interrogators to give their victims one chance at freedom. If they could survive the trap course they were free to go. After they got the needed information from them of course. They just sent in an Aburame with the traps deactivated to strip the bodies to the bones so it wouldn't smell later.

Naruto tensed his body, and kicked as hard as he could to the other side. His hands scrambled to the edge, just barely avoiding slipping. Since he couldn't use chakra, walking up the walls was a no no.

As soon as he got a breather, he paled. Fire erupted from the floor and ceiling. He knew there had to be a switch to shut it off, but the only one he could see was in the middle of the flames. He wasn't going to quit now, so he took a leap of faith (as in he trusted the fox to keep him from being cooked) and landed on the switch. The flames turned off with a hiss. He abruptly ducked as a chain saw came whirling full tilt towards his head. He felt a small amount of hair fall off, but that didn't bother him.

(Inside the control room)

"The kid isn't half bad. Most genin would have failed at the pit trap," said Ibiki.

"Naruto is the only genin who has gone through the intermediate course and passed it in a month," said Harry.

"Ooooh...that was a nice flip!" said Kari.

"What happens to him if he passes this course?" asked Shikaku.

"Normally I would start him on phantom training, but somehow I get the feeling he's already been through it. So I'm going to see if he wants to join me in weapon training instead," said Harry.

_(Back in the course)_

Naruto did a double flip over the electrically charged water and narrowly avoided touching it. Even water walking would have gotten someone fried! The walls open up tiny holes that were shooting out senbon, some poisoned, some not. There was no switch, and he had to test his luck if he just dove in.

Instead, Naruto watched the pattern carefully before running to an unseen beat.

1-1-2-5-5...and with that he was out. He grinned at the one sided mirror. He was almost through the end!

Without warning snakes fell from the ceiling, and formed a line in front of the door. He would have to do some fancy footwork to get through that gauntlet, and most of the snakes were highly venomous!

Suddenly he noted the odd indentations on the walls, and leaped on to the nearest one. The asp hissed and tried to strike, but Naruto was doing a crab walk along an almost unseen ledge. One wrong move and he was so screwed. His foot did slip once, but Naruto grabbed the nearest hole above him and kept from falling. Once he was above the snakes again, he made it as close the door as he could before he jumped off the very tiny ledge and into the doorway.

Where he found a grinning Harry and an impressed Kakashi.

"Congrats Naruto! You passed one of the most difficult trap courses in Konoha! The easy one at least."

"That was easy!?" said Naruto.

"Well yeah, the one the Nara clan has for the mastery exam is nearly three times as hard. I mean they had electric shock tags where the snakes were and you had to watch out for them as you crawled along that almost nonexistent ledge!"

"Look at it this way Naruto, now the council can't complain about your old pranking habit since it clearly aided you in passing an ANBU level course," said Kakashi.

Naruto grinned evilly.

"However that doesn't mean you get to do mass pranks anymore...unless you are willing to learn the meaning of subtle," said Harry firmly.

Naruto was willing, apparently. Kakashi feared for the civilian council once Harry was through teaching Naruto how to do hit and run tactics that didn't practically scream of his involvement.

* * *

It had all come to a boil. When Kari learned of Sakura's not so subtle attempts to flirt with Harry, Kari had bided her time. Kuranai would have feared for the pinkette if the girl hadn't justly earned such an unpleasant retribution. And she was the first to admit that Kari's genjutsu skills were above her own when it came to the terror level!

Anko had eagerly approached the girl once Kuranai mentioned that, and Kari had told her she would consider helping her out in interrogation once she put Sakura in her place once and for all. There was more than one reason why Krad had chosen to stay inside Satoshi, and it wasn't because he hated listening to teenage girls.

Sakura Hikari was an absolutely terrifying woman to cross. And getting in the middle of her love life was a sure fire way to do it. Not even Krad was suicidal enough to piss her off.

* * *

Sakura Haruno went to the training grounds early, in the hopes of catching Sasuke there alone. Or better yet, Harry Niwa. She had quickly realized that Harry was a much better target, since the only thing she had to worry about was his girlfriend who was a civilian.

It wasn't until she sat down to read that she realized something was very, very wrong.

The sun grew dark and malevolent. The atmosphere grew cold, as if something was stealing all the warmth in the world.

Sakura took a ragged breath, it was getting harder to breathe.

Suddenly she felt the presence of another. She turned, and saw Sakura Hikari standing there with an evil gleam in her eye.

"I have warned you time and again little girl. Hands off my boyfriend girlie."

"What...What the hell are you?!"

"You assumed that because I am not a kunoichi in the sense you know of that I am not a threat. I thought you already knew the old adage of looking underneath the underneath."

"You...You're not human!" cried Sakura, backing away. Her breathe was getting harder and harder, like someone was sucking out the air.

"You, little girl, are no ninja. You barely qualify as a kunoichi and that only in the loosest of terms. I on the other hand, am a professional Witch. Crossing me was the worst mistake you could ever make," said Kari coldly.

While she couldn't access chakra as naturally as her cousin did, Kari was very, very good at wandless magic that it didn't make a difference. Coupled with the Hellfire magic she got from Ai, and she was a veritable powerhouse on the battlefield.

Sakura literally wet herself from fear. What she didn't know was the malevolent presence she felt was actually all the built up negative energy that Kari had been storing inside her since she came to Konoha. Releasing it all in a genjutsu that terrified a girl trying to poach her boyfriend simply made the deal all the sweeter.

When the pinkette finally passed out from the sheer dark KI in the air, Kari smirked.

_'That'll teach her to try and steal MY boyfriend. Che, simply because I am classed a civilian makes me no threat?'_


End file.
